Deadly Monsoon Rains Slam Pakistan as Death Toll Nears 800
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said Monday that the latest spell of rains, which began Aug. 15, has been the deadliest, killing at least 485 people in the last 10 days.
In total, nearly 800 people have lost their lives since the start of the monsoon season in late June as heavy rains and floods continue to batter Pakistan.
The country is once again grappling with one of its deadliest floods since the catastrophic deluge of 2022, which displaced millions and caused billions in losses.
Fresh flood warnings have been issued for the Ravi and Sutlej rivers. Officials said the Sutlej is already at high flood levels, while the Ravi could face medium-level flooding in the next two days.
Residents in low-lying areas have been urged to remain alert and prepare for possible evacuations.
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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province has been hit the hardest, with hundreds of deaths reported.
In Buner district, a sudden cloudburst dropped more than 150 millimeters of rain within an hour, sweeping away entire villages and killing more than 200 people.
Survivors described the floods as so sudden and powerful that many families had no chance to escape.
Rescue operations are continuing, with army units and disaster response teams evacuating people and providing food, shelter and medical aid.
NDMA Chairman Lt. Gen. Inam Haider Malik said the scale of the crisis underlines the growing danger of climate disasters in Pakistan. “This year’s monsoon has once again shown us how vulnerable we are. The rains are becoming more intense, the floods more destructive. We are doing everything possible to save lives, but the challenges are immense,” he told reporters in Islamabad.
Authorities have also warned of landslides, flash floods and possible glacial lake outburst floods in the northern mountains, including Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir.
Meteorologists forecast more heavy rainfall through the end of August and possibly into September, raising fears of further flooding in Punjab and Sindh.
Officials are urging people to heed evacuation orders, avoid flooded roads and take extra precautions against electrocution in urban areas where power lines and floodwaters have already caused several deaths.
Pakistan, ranked among the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world, has been facing increasingly extreme weather events, with experts warning that heavier rains, melting glaciers and rising temperatures will continue to heighten the risk of deadly floods in the years ahead.
