At least 35 dead from floods in northwest Pakistan (UPDATE)

telesurenglish.net
Tue, 30 Jul 2024 14:00 UTC

Floods in Pakistan, July 2024

Rains in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, flooded the basement of a house where the family slept,

At least 14 people died, 11 of them from the same family, due to heavy monsoon rains in northwestern Pakistan that caused flash floods, as the authorities said on Tuesday.

Rains in Kohat, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, flooded the basement of a house where the family slept, said Bilal Faizi, an emergency services spokesman. The bodies of a man, three women, six children and an 11-month-old baby had been recovered. The other three deaths were reported in the districts of Hangu and Bajur, in the same province, he said.

Pakistan has received heavy rains since the beginning of July, which have caused more than 60 deaths and damaged more than 250 houses, Most of them in eastern Punjab and the southwestern province of Baluchistan.

Authorities warned that rains are likely to cause flash floods next week in several parts of the country.

Comment: Update August 1

Anadolu Ajansı reports:

Rain-triggered flash floods continued to batter northern Pakistan on Wednesday, washing away neighborhoods, triggering landslides, and killing at least 35 people over the past 48 hours, officials and locals said.

Torrents of rainwater wreaked havoc on swaths of scenic Chitral district of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where heavy precipitation and flash floods washed away houses, bridges and livestock on Wednesday, disconnecting dozens of suburban villages from the city.

Heavy rains also triggered landslides, sending torrents of mud, and tumbling boulders downhill, which blocked roads at different points.

"The situation is very serious," Israr Ahmad, a local told Anadolu on the phone.

"By the grace of God, human losses are not that big compared to the devastation caused by rains and flash floods," Ahmad said.

"However, infrastructural losses are huge," he maintained.

According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, 19 people have lost their lives and 15 others injured in different parts of the province in rain-related accidents over the past 48 hours.