Monsoon flood death toll rises to 96

A population of 89,439 has been affected and 2372 houses were destroyed, says NDMA spokesperson.

ISLAMABAD: Floods triggered by monsoon rains have killed 96 people across Pakistan in the past two weeks and affected nearly 90,000 others, officials said Thursday.

"Up to 96 people have been killed so far and 99 others have been injured during the monsoon rains and floods so far," an official in the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), told AFP.

"A population of 89,439 has been affected and 2372 houses were destroyed. Other 1909 houses were partially damaged by the rains and floods," Rima Zuberi, a spokesperson of NDMA, said.

Officials in the most populous province of Punjab, which has been hit hard this week by particularly heavy rains, said that they were still collecting damage reports from different districts.

Pakistan has suffered monsoon floods for the last three years and been criticised for not doing more to mitigate against the dangers posed by seasonal rains washing away homes and farmland.

In 2010, the worst floods in the country's history killed almost 1,800 people and affected 21 million.

Streets in all major cities including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad suffered intermittent flooding due to downpours over the last two weeks, damaging roads, buildings and houses.