KARACHI: At least 25 people have been killed in rain-related accidents in the last two days as a fresh spell of monsoon rains and flash floods have inundated large swathes of Pakistan, triggering landslides and washing away houses, roads, and bridges, officials and media reported on Saturday.
Some 25 people have lost their lives due to flooding, electrocution, and roof and wall collapses across the country over the past two days, according to government agencies and media.
Balochistan, which touches neighbouring Afghanistan and Iran, has been the worst hit, where flooding caused by torrential rains has submerged over a dozen districts, forcing thousands to leave their homes for safety.
Thousands more, rescue officials said, have been marooned by unrelenting rains along with flashfloods that have washed away hundreds of houses, bridges, roads, and hundreds of animals in Bolan, Zhob, Kohlu, Qila Saifullah, Harnai, Lasbella, Chaman and other districts of Balochistan, National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said in a statement.
Images on Geo News showed several roads and highways resembling rivers, and brown muddy rainwaters lapping against the roofs of trapped vehicles.
The main RCD Highway which connects Balochistan to Karachi has been closed to traffic after its several portions were submerged by rainwaters.
The Chaman crossing which connects the mineral-rich province with Afghanistan has been shut after two dams in the region burst their banks due to massive downpours.
Flooding caused by torrential rains also wreaked havoc in the Gilgit-Baltistan region, which borders China, washing away houses and connecting bridges, triggering landslides, and uprooting trees and electricity poles.
At least 10 people have been killed across Punjab over the past two days in rain-related accidents, mainly electrocution and roof collapse.
Bad weather hampering rescue operations
The ongoing monsoon spell has killed 120 people in Balochistan since June 14, the NDMA said.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast more rains in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and parts of Azad Jammu and Kashmir for the next two days.
Hundreds of rescue workers backed by army troops scrambled to shift the marooned residents to safer places in Balochistan as bad weather hampered the relief and rescue operations, the NDMA said.
Army helicopters dropped food packets, water bottles, and other essential items for stranded people in flood-hit areas.
Faisal Tariq, an official with the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA), told Anadolu Agency that bad weather is hampering the relief and rescue operations.
He did, however, estimate that 128 people were killed in the province.
Stranded people in several affected areas could not be airlifted due to bad weather, he said.
Meanwhile, cargo railway service between Pakistan and Iran has also been suspended due to floods on the Chagai district railway track.
Monsoon rains have long been causing devastation in this South Asian nuclear country, however, the global warming driven by climate change has increased their frequency, ferocity, and unpredictability in recent years.
