Flash floods in Pakistan and Kashmir have killed nearly 200 people. Photo by Haseeb Ali/EPA
Heavy monsoon floods have killed at least 194 people in the last 24 hours in flash floods and landslides in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Most of the deaths, 180, were in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan. At least 30 homes were destroyed and a rescue helicopter crashed during operations, killing its crew of five, the National Disaster Management Authority said Friday. The helicopter crashed because of bad weather while flying to Bajaur, a region bordering Afghanistan.
In Pakistan-administered Kashmir, nine more people were killed, and five died in the northern Gilit-Baltistan region.
Heavy rainfall is expected until Aug. 21 in the northwest of the country, where some areas have already been declared disaster zones, government forecasters said.
The NDMA confirmed that 158 of the victims were male, 19 female, and 17 children. Another 28 people have been injured nationwide, while 116 houses have been damaged, Geo News reported.
Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told the NDMA to do comprehensive relief operations in flood-affected areas of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar told Geo News.
Electricity is out in Swat after floodwaters entered a grid station, according to the Peshawar Electricity Supply Company. Sixteen poles supplying Malam Jabba were washed away, while many other poles and transformers were damaged across the district.
Communications in multiple areas have also been cut off. Officials reported that mobile phone towers were damaged, isolating flood-hit regions.
In Indian-administered Kashmir, rescuers pulled bodies from mud and rubble Friday after a flood crashed through a Himalayan village, killing at least 60 people and washing away dozens more, BBC reported.
Monsoon rains, which happen between June and September, provide most of South Asia’s annual rainfall. Landslides and flooding are common, and 300 people have died in this year’s season.
In July, Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan’s population, saw 73% more rainfall than the previous year and more deaths than in the entire previous monsoon.
