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Deaths from widespread flooding in Pakistan have exceeded 1,000 since mid-June, officials said Sunday, as the country’s climate minister called the deadly monsoon season “a major climate catastrophe.”
Flash floods from heavy rains wiped out villages and crops as soldiers and rescuers evacuated safely stranded residents in relief camps and provided food to thousands of Pakistani displaced people.
The Pakistani Disaster Management Authority reported that the death toll since the monsoon season started earlier this year – in mid-June – has reached 1,033 people after new casualties were reported in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in the provinces of southern Sindh.
Sherry Rehman, a Pakistani senator and the country’s chief climate officer, said in a video posted on Twitter that Pakistan is experiencing a “severe climate catastrophe, one of the most difficult of the decade”.
FLASH FLOODS devastate PAKISTAN; FROM MID-JUNE 903 DEAD AND 50,000 HOMELESS
A man searches for recoverable items from his flood-affected home surrounded by water in Jaffarabad, a district of the Pakistani province of Southwest Baluchistan on Sunday, August 28, 2022. Army troops are deployed in the flood-affected area of Pakistan. for urgent relief and relief work as flash floods triggered after heavy monsoon rains across much of the country lashed many districts across all four provinces.
(Photo AP / Zahid Hussain)
“We are currently at the zero point of the first line of extreme weather events, in an incessant cascade of heatwaves, forest fires, flash floods, multiple glacial lake explosions, flood events and now the monstrous monsoon of the decade is causing – stop the chaos across the country, “he said. The statement in front of the camera was retweeted by the country’s ambassador to the European Union.
Floods from the Swat River overnight hit the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where tens of thousands of people, especially in Charsadda and Nowshehra districts, were evacuated from their homes to relief camps set up in government buildings. Many also took refuge on the roadsides, said Kamran Bangash, a spokesman for the provincial government.
Bangash said around 180,000 people had been evacuated from Charsadda and 150,000 from villages in the Nowshehra district.
Khaista Rehman, 55, no relative of the climate minister, fled with his wife and three children on the side of the Islamabad-Peshawar highway after his home in Charsadda was submerged overnight.
MISSISSIPPI FLOODING: THE GOVERNOR DECLARES THE STATE OF EMERGENCY WITH THE RIVER PROVIDED AT CREST AT 36 FEET MONDAY
“Thank God we are now safe on this road rather high above the flooded area,” he said. “Our crops are finished and our house is destroyed, but I am grateful to Allah that we are alive and I will resume life with my children.”
The unprecedented monsoon season has affected all four provinces of the country. Nearly 300,000 homes were destroyed, numerous streets made impassable and power outages were widespread, affecting millions of people.
Pakistani women prepare bread near their damaged home surrounded by floodwaters in Jaffarabad, a district of the Pakistani province of Southwest Baluchistan, on Sunday, August 28, 2022. Army troops are deployed to the flood-affected Pakistani area for operations. Urgent relief and relief from flash floods triggered after heavy monsoon rains across much of the country have lashed many districts across all four provinces.
(Photo AP / Zahid Hussain)
Pope Francis on Sunday said he wanted to ensure his “closeness to the populations of Pakistan hit by floods of disastrous proportions”. Speaking during a pilgrimage to the Italian city of L’Aquila, struck by a terrible earthquake in 2009, Francis said he had prayed “for the many victims, for the injured and the displaced, and for international solidarity to be ready and generous.”
Rehman told Turkish news agency TRT World that when the rains subsided, “we may very well have a quarter or a third of Pakistan underwater.”
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“This is a global crisis and, of course, we will need better planning and sustainable development on the ground … We will need climate resilient crops and structures,” he said.
In May, Rehman told BBC Newshour that both the north and south of the country were witnessing extreme weather events due to rising temperatures. “So in the north we are actually right now … experiencing what are known as glacial lake burst floods of which we have many because Pakistan is home to the largest number of glaciers outside the polar region.”
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The government has deployed soldiers to help civilian authorities in relief and rescue operations across the country. The Pakistani army also said in a statement that it had flown 22 tourists trapped into a valley in the north of the country, taking them to safety.
Prime Minister Shabaz Sharif visited flood victims in the city of Jafferabad in Baluchistan. He promised that the government would provide housing for all those who lost their homes.
