At least 21 people have died in monsoon rain-related incidents in Pakistan, authorities said, pushing the nationwide death toll over the last week above 400 as floods and landslides continue to devastate large parts of the country.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Wednesday that 11 people were killed in Gilgit-Baltistan in the north and 10 others died in Karachi, Pakistan’s financial hub, where heavy rain triggered electrocutions and house collapses.
Schools in Karachi, a city of more than 20 million, remained closed as forecasters warned of further downpours until Saturday. Sindh’s chief meteorologist, Amir Hyder Laghari, blamed “weak infrastructure” for the severe flooding in urban areas.
The city’s ageing pipes and drains struggled to handle the deluge, leaving entire neighbourhoods submerged. Residents were seen scooping murky water from their homes as power and phone outages added to the disruption.
Provincial officials reported 40 to 50 houses damaged in two districts. “Another (rain) spell is to start by the end of the month,” NDMA chairman Inam Haider Malik said.
The northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been hardest hit, with more than 350 people killed since last Thursday. Authorities and army units are searching for dozens of missing villagers in areas struck by flash floods and landslides. Excavators have been deployed to clear debris clogging rivers and drainage systems.
“We have established relief camps where we are providing medical assistance. We are also giving dry rations and tents to all the people,” army Colonel Irfan Afridi told the AFP news agency in Buner district, where more than 220 people have died in recent days.
“The children are scared. They say we cannot sleep at night due to fear,” said Anjum Anwar, a medical worker at a relief camp. “The flood … has destroyed our entire settlements.”
The monsoon season, which runs from June to September, often brings destruction to Pakistan’s mountainous north and flood-prone south. Authorities warn the current rains may last until mid-September.
Nearly 750 people have died since this year’s monsoon began, officials said. Pakistan, one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, has faced increasingly extreme weather in recent years. In 2022, monsoon floods submerged a third of the country, killing about 1,700 people.
