Pakistan (BN24) – Flash floods fueled by torrential rains have killed at least 49 people in northwestern Pakistan and other parts of the country in the past 24 hours, officials said Friday, as rescue teams worked to evacuate 1,300 stranded tourists from a mountainous district battered by landslides.
The latest fatalities add to the more than 360 deaths — mostly women and children — reported across Pakistan since June 26 in rain-related incidents, according to local officials. Northern and northwestern regions have been hit hardest.
In Gilgit-Baltistan’s Ghazar district, at least 10 people were swept away by raging floodwaters on Thursday, regional government spokesman Faizullah Faraq said. The mountainous area has been repeatedly hit by floods since July, with landslides blocking sections of the Karakoram Highway — a vital trade and travel link between Pakistan and China.
Another 16 people, including women and children, were killed in Bajaur district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province after a powerful cloudburst triggered flash flooding, rescue official Amjad Khan said. Seventeen others remain missing. In Battagram district, flash floods claimed 10 lives, and 18 more people were unaccounted for, according to government administrator Saleem Khan.
Seven additional deaths were reported Thursday in Pakistan-administered Kashmir in separate rain-related incidents, the state disaster management authority said.
Emergency workers battled hazardous conditions to rescue 1,300 tourists trapped in Mansehra district’s Siran Valley by a combination of floodwaters and landslides, provincial emergency service spokesman Bilal Faizi said.
President Asif Ali Zardari expressed sorrow over the mounting toll and urged authorities to accelerate rescue and relief operations. Pakistan’s disaster management agency has issued fresh warnings of glacial lake outburst floods in the north, advising travelers to avoid high-risk areas. Gilgit-Baltistan’s glaciers supply about 75% of Pakistan’s stored water, making the region’s stability critical to the country’s water security.
A new study by World Weather Attribution, an international scientific network, found that rainfall between June 24 and July 23 was 10% to 15% heavier due to global warming. Experts warn that sudden, localized cloudbursts — capable of unleashing deadly floods in minutes — are becoming more frequent in Pakistan.
The country’s vulnerability to extreme weather was underscored in 2022, when record monsoon rains killed more than 1,700 people and caused an estimated $40 billion in damage.
Source: AP
