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.

According to the USGS, a 5.1-magnitude quake occurred east of Snyder, northeast of Hermleigh. It was felt about 80 miles to the northwest in Lubbock, and across parts of the South Plains and West Texas. On the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) scale, the USGS shows a VI-Strong rating. The USGS again updated the magnitude, now to 5.1 as of 11 a.m. There were also aftershocks of 3.2 at 9:40 and 2.7 at 10:44.

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"Since the first earthquake that was felt on July 22, 2024 at about 9:38 PM, a 4.9, and a 4.4 at about 9:46 PM to today's 5.0 at about 9:28 AM July 26, 2024, damage has been found throughout Scurry County in businesses and residences," Hicks wrote on Facebook. He said emergency management coordinator Jay Callaway is working closely with the Texas Department of Emergency Management to monitor the damage throughout Scurry County and the surrounding area.

The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas operations in the state, is investigating this week's quakes in the Camp Springs area and along the Fisher-Scurry County line.

Here is a statement from the RRC:

"In efforts to reduce seismicity possibly caused by underground injection of produced water, several operators in the area have converted deep saltwater disposal wells to shallow saltwater disposal wells within the last year. (Disposal wells are used to dispose produced water, which is water that comes out from wells during oil and gas production.) RRC inspectors are out inspecting saltwater disposal wells within two and a half miles of the cluster of earthquakes this week and the RRC will evaluate next steps that can be taken to mitigate earthquakes. We'll continue to take measures necessary to protect the environment and residents in the area."

Not specific to this week, on a broad scale according to the USGS website, fracking is not directly causing most induced earthquakes. "It's the disposal of waste fluids that are a byproduct of oil producing that is the primary cause of the the recent increase in earthquakes in the central United States," the USGS states on this page: Myths and Misconceptions About Induced Earthquakes. Additionally, it states not all wastewater injection wells induce earthquakes.