3 days ago
More than 300 killed in Pakistan amid heavy rains and flooding
The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in
Pakistan
has crossed 300, local officials said on Saturday.
Hundreds have been killed in recent weeks as Pakistan experienced more rain than usual during the current monsoon season, washing away roads and buildings.
Cloud bursts, flash floods, lightning strikes and building collapses amid heavy rain caused fatalities in the hills and mountains of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, local officials said.
Worst hit was the Buner area, where floods and heavy rain caused 100 deaths, the provincial chief secretary, Shahab Ali Shah, said on Friday.
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A helicopter carrying relief supplies to those hit by flooding in Bajaur, close to the
Afghan
border, crashed due to the bad weather, killing the five crew members.
In the district of Swat, more than 2,000 people were moved to safer ground, after rivers and streams swelled, rescue officials said.
Prime minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired an emergency meeting to review the flood situation caused by the recent rains, a statement from his office said.
Bilal Faizi, a provincial emergency service spokesman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, said rescuers worked for hours to save 1,300 tourists after they were trapped by flash flooding and landslides in the Siran Valley in Mansehra district on Thursday.
The Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan has been hit by multiple floods since July, triggering landslides along the Karakoram Highway, a key trade and travel route linking Pakistan and China that is used by tourists to travel to the scenic north.
The region is home to scenic glaciers that provide 75 per cent of Pakistan's stored water supply.
Pakistan's disaster management agency has issued fresh alerts for glacial lake outburst flooding in the north, warning travellers to avoid affected areas.
A study released this week by World Weather Attribution, a network of international scientists, found rainfall in Pakistan from June 24th to July 23rd was 10 per cent to 15 per cent heavier because of global warming.
In 2022, the country's worst monsoon season on record killed more than 1,700 people and caused an estimated 40 billion dollars in damage. – Reuters/AP
