Death toll keeps rising after 'doomsday scenario' deluge, floods in Pakistan

Monsoon rains have killed 695 people across the country since late June

Rescue workers on Tuesday recovered more bodies from a mountain village in northwestern Pakistan where flash floods triggered by a cloudburst brought down homes and other buildings, bringing the death toll there to at least 20, the local district commissioner said.

The toll contributed to a total of 358 deaths in the floods in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province since Friday — more than 200 of them in the worst-hit district of Buner. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority says 30 children are among the dead.

A cloudburst is a rare phenomenon where more than 100mm of rain falls within an hour in a small area, officials say. Authorities have warned of more rains to come in two spells of monsoon until September 10.

In Buner, there was more than 150mm of rain within an hour on Friday morning. A massive downpour from another cloudburst struck near Gadoon in the mountains of Swabi district, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Monday.

District commissioner Nisar Khan said that in addition to the death toll there increasing from 11 on Monday, several residents remained missing from the remote village.

“We are using all available resources, including heavy machinery such as excavators, to recover the missing bodies,” he said, adding that the raging flood water came down from the mountains and swept away the houses.

The intense rain has claimed lives and spread destruction in several northwestern districts, with most people killed in flash floods, according to the National Disaster Management Authority.

More relief equipment including tents, blankets, electric generators, pumps, medicine and rations have been sent to the flood-affected areas, the authority said on Tuesday. It said the torrential rains and flooding this monsoon season have killed 695 people across Pakistan since late June.

On Monday, residents said they were too scared to go back to their homes as authorities warned of more rains to come.

“Everybody is scared. Children are scared. They cannot sleep,” said Sahil Khan, a 24-year-old university student.

He was speaking to a Reuters team from a rooftop in the district of Buner, where he and 15 other villagers had climbed to escape any more flooding amid a fresh spell of rain on Monday.

“It was like a doomsday scenario,” he said.

Khan and other residents in Buner's Bayshonai Kalay village fled to higher ground when a water channel that had earlier overflowed and caused major devastation started swelling with more rain on Monday, according to Reuters witnesses.

He and several other residents said most of the villagers were staying with relatives or in makeshift camps set up on higher ground.

Rescuers were finding it difficult to get heavy machinery into narrow streets.

In Buner's main markets and streets, shops and houses were buried in up to 1.5m of mud, which locals were clearing with shovels. Elsewhere, cars and other belongings were strewn in the rubble of ruined buildings.

“People are out of their homes. They are fearful,” said Dayar Khan, 26, a shopkeeper in Buner. “They have climbed into the mountains.”

Rescue and relief efforts resumed in the flood-hit areas several hours after heavy rain forced rescuers to halt work on Monday, a regional government officer, Abid Wazir, told Reuters.

“Our priority is now to clear the roads, set up bridges and bring relief to the affected people,” he said.

Heavy rains and flash floods also hit more areas in the northwestern province on Monday, including Swabi district, where 11 people were killed, according to the provincial disaster management authority.

The flash floods hit a remote mountainous region in Daroli Bala, local district commissioner Nisar Khan told Reuters, which caused houses to collapse.

It took several hours for rescue teams to access the remote area, he said, adding that he also went to the region where residents reported that their relatives were missing.

“The relatives and family members told us that 40 people have been swept away,” he said.

Lt-Gen Inam Haider Malik, the authority's chair, warned of two more spells of rain between Thursday and September 10.

Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah, who leads risk assessment at the authority, said global warming had changed the pattern of the annual monsoon, pushing it about 100km west of its normal path.

Authorities continue to distribute relief supplies.

Reuters