ISLAMABAD: Flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains left seven people dead and swept away dozens of houses in north-western Pakistan, officials said on Sunday.
More than three dozen houses in Kohistan region of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were washed away by the flash floods leaving hundreds of people homeless, Taimur Ali, a spokesperson for the provincial disaster management authority said.
At least seven people were killed in rain related incidents across the country, according to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
The death toll from more than five weeks of heavy rains across the country has now reached 310, according to the NDMA.
Ali said that the authorities were assessing the damage and trying to reach villagers facing shortage of safe drinking water.
Heavy rains inundated several neighbourhoods in the southern city of Karachi and Zhob in the south-western province of Balochistan.
Images by the local media showed submerged roads and houses in major cities, whereas flash floods swept away homes, destroyed crops and damaged roads and bridges.
Meteorological officials said the rains were expected to continue few more days.
Pakistan faced a severe heatwave in May. Weeks later the authorities issued warnings for worst flooding in decades.
Hundreds of people die every year during monsoon season in July and August in Pakistan and other densely populated countries across South Asia.
Apart from floods in rivers caused by rains on the Himalayas, climate change has posed challenges like urban flooding and glacial lake outburst flooding in recent years. — dpa
