KARACHI: Raging flooding along with relentless rains killed another 33 people across Pakistan over the past two days, aside from inundating large swaths, washing away infrastructures, and triggering landslides.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been directly affected by flooding caused by torrential downpours in all four provinces, the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Anadolu Agency reported, quoting authorities on Saturday.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority, a state-run agency that coordinates multiple relief and rescue organisations, over 650 people have died in the ongoing monsoon season, with 215 of them in southwestern Balochistan alone, since June 14.
Thousands of people have been marooned in southern Sindh, Balochistan, and northeastern Punjab provinces after the latest round of rains and flashfloods submerged hundreds of villages and large swaths of farmland and washed away houses, roads, bridges, and animals in the past 24 hours.
Most of the casualties were reported from Sindh, which had been battered by a 28-hour long rain spell, where at least 20 people died due to electrocution, roof and wall crashes, and drowning over the past 24 hours, local broadcaster ARY News reported.
The remaining deaths were reported from Balochistan, Punjab, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, where dozens of towns were cut off from the rest of the country due to washing away of roads and bridges, and landslides.
The Meteorological Department of Pakistan has forecast another rain spell to hit the country's northwestern and northeastern parts, including the capital Islamabad, beginning on Aug 23.-Bernama