Flash floods kill more than 300 in Pakistan

With 307 confirmed dead, the number of fatalities from severe monsoon floods and landslides in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir is still swiftly increasing.

The majority of the fatalities were reported by disaster officials in the northwest Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which is hilly. A rescue chopper crashed during operations, killing five of its crew members, and at least 74 dwellings have been destroyed.

Authorities reported five fatalities in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan area and nine more in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. According to government forecasters, the country’s northwest, where many regions have been designated disaster zones, will get significant rainfall until August 21.

In Buner, one survivor told news agency AFP the floods arrived like “doomsday”.

“I heard a loud noise as if the mountain was sliding. I rushed outside and saw the entire area shaking, like it was the end of the world,” said Azizullah.

“The ground was trembling due to the force of the water, and it felt like death was staring me in the face.”

While traveling to Bajaur, a district that borders Afghanistan, the M-17 helicopter crashed owing to terrible weather, according to Ali Amin Gadapur, the chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

According to images, a crowd gathered around an excavator that was scouring a muddy slope near Bajaur. In a nearby pasture, funeral prayers got underway as mourners stood in front of multiple blanket-covered remains.

The monsoon season, which lasts from June to September, provides around three-quarters of South Asia’s yearly precipitation. Flooding and landslides are frequent, and this year’s season has claimed over 300 lives. Climate warming, according to scientists, has increased the frequency and severity of weather disasters.