Monsoon rains death toll reaches over 900, injures nearly 1,300

The above-normal monsoon rains across the country on Thursday caused a further surge in lives and property losses as the total death count in various incidents reached 903 and 1,293 individuals got injured since the onset of the rainy season.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) issued a 24-hour situation report released on a routine basis that accounted for overall life, property, and infrastructure losses incurred by the heavy rains lashing out various parts of the country.

The heavy rains caused roof collapse incidents in Balochistan’s four different areas including two men died in Loralai, a man died in Duki, one in Sibbi and one in Musakhel whereas three children got injured in Duki.

In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s district Dera Ismail Khan, incidents of roof collapse as a result of heavy rain were reported at different sites that caused the death of a man and injured two others.

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In Punjab’s district Rajanpur, five people died due to drowning in high-flow waters.

In Sindh, five men, a woman and a child died in Naushero Feroze, four man perished in Larkana, a man , a woman and a child died in Shaheed Benazirabad, a man and three children died in Jacobabad, a woman and a child expired in Badin, a woman in Sanghar died, two children in Tando Muhammad Khan, two children in Kashmore and one in Dadu died during various incidents.

There was no incident or loss to report in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) and Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT).

In G-B, the Mujawir Road at Ishkoman Immit Valley was blocked due to a flash flood where restoration work was in progress.

In Balochistan, the high flow of water blocked the N-25 Quetta-Karachi Highway as it washed away the Lunda Bridge. Similarly, the M-8 motorway was also blocked due to land sliding.

The report highlighted that a widespread thunderstorm and rain of heavy to very heavy intensity with extremely heavy falls at isolated places were expected over Sindh, eastern Balochistan along with Dera Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan divisions.

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It further highlighted that scattered to widespread thunderstorms and rain of moderate to the heavy intensity with isolated very heavy falls were expected over the upper catchments of rivers Kabul and Indus.

Moreover, scattered thunderstorm and rain of moderate intensity was expected over the upper catchments of rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej along with Islamabad and Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Lahore, Multan, Bahawalpur, Peshawar, Kohat and Bannu Divisions.

It added that isolated thunderstorm and rain was expected over the rest of the country except western Balochistan.

Climate-induced humanitarian disaster

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Climate Change Senator Sherry Rehman, referring to the havoc wreaked by ongoing unprecedented monsoon rains, said that Pakistan was going through a "climate-induced humanitarian disaster" at the moment.

The media should play an effective role in highlighting the plight of flood victims, rescue and relief efforts, and damages to life and property so that the stakeholders could manage a well-coordinated response with public support, she told a press conference.

Sherry said that the country had so far received an average of 166 millimetres of rainfall during the month of August, which was 241% above normal, whereas its southern parts particularly Sindh, got 784% more than the normal average rain of the season which was alarming.

The Met Office statistics were startling, she said, adding the flash floods caused by massive rains had swept away bridges and communication infrastructure in various areas of the provinces.

The current deluge in the Indus River was even more than the super flood of 2010, Sherry further said.