At least 50 people have been killed so far across Pakistan as flash floods triggered by incessant rains continued to play havoc in Punjab, parts of Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, while rising waters swamped the financial hub of Karachi.
The death toll from the torrential rains in Karachi, Pakistan’s biggest city with 18 million people, rose to 21 on Sunday with many people reported injured or missing as the government and local administration failed to cope with the resultant heavy floods.
The Met office and disaster relief officials forecast more rains and flooding on Monday.
Scores of villages in Punjab province were under water leaving thousands of people desperate and stranded.
Flash floods and torrential rains also killed 21 people, leaving many injured and dislocated scores of people in parts of northwestern Khyber Pakthunkhwa province, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said.
Karachi was the worst-hit as many parts of the city remained paralysed due to flooding in many residential areas after rains caused banks on the Malir river and Surjani to collapse leading to floods in the areas of Malir town, Surjani, Maymar, Lyari with water flooding into homes.
Geo News reported 24 people killed since yesterday and 136 millimetre rain was recorded so far in the city.
Local Minister Owais Muzaffar said that relief work was being carried out on a war footing with the Army and Navy also helping in the rescue operations.
Many cases of people being electrocuted, drowning or roofs of houses collapsing were reported from several areas.
Several parts of the city also remained without power for more than 24 hours.
An emergency was declared in the city as roads were flooded with commuters and vehicles stuck in the water.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, officials said six people died and 10 others were injured in heavy floods in Tank district.
River Kabul at Warsak and River Adezai at Adezai Bridge were heavily flooded this morning, Peshawar Flood Cell said.
The deluge also hit River Kabul at Nowshera, River Shah Alam at Takhtabad, River Kurram at Kurram Garhi Headworks and River Indus at Khairabad.
Met Department has forecast scattered rain with thundershowers at isolated places of Malakand, Hazara‚ Gujranwala divisions during the next 12 hours.
Most deaths occurred in districts of Nowshera, Swat, Peshawar and Kohistan, PDMA said.
While in Punjab, water overflowing from Dek channel has inundated over 70 villages in the Pasrur and Zafarwal Tehsil of district Sialkot, some 80 kilometres from Lahore.
The flooded villages are under five feet of water and floodwaters have also cut off land links between many areas.
Hundreds of acres of agricultural land have also been inundated in Pasrur and Zafarwal areas, officials said.
Hundreds of people from Punjab’s flood-hit areas staged protests in Sambrial Tehsil on Sunday as the government machinery has yet to initiate efforts to rescue the stranded people.
The National Disaster Management Authority in Islamabad has warned that more thunderstorms and heavy rains and floods are expected on Monday.
