ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s weather agency has warned of heavy rainfall and thunderstorms across central and northern parts of the country from July 29 to Aug. 5, as the monsoon death toll reached 113 amid fears of more flooding and landslides.
Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change and in recent years has faced increasingly erratic weather including extreme rainfall, floods and heatwaves, exposing weak infrastructure and gaps in disaster preparedness.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), at least 113 people including 50 children and 23 women have been killed in monsoon-related incidents since June 26, with the highest number of fatalities reported in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Met office has informed that monsoon currents from Arabian Sea & Bay of Bengal are likely to penetrate upper and central parts of the country from 29th July,” the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said in a statement.
Rainfall and thundershowers were expected in different areas of Islamabad, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan, it added.
The PMD warned that heavy rains could trigger urban flooding in low-lying areas of Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Lahore and other Punjab cities from July 30 to Aug. 4, while Sindh remains under a similar threat until Aug. 2.
A warning of landslides was also issued for vulnerable northern areas, including Dir, Chitral, Swat, Kohistan, Buner, Battagram, Mansehra, Haripur, Abbottabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Murree, Galliyat and Kashmir, from July 30 to Aug. 5.
Last year, heavy monsoon rains again caused widespread flooding across Pakistan, killing more than 900 people, with Punjab among the hardest-hit provinces where millions were affected and vast stretches of agricultural land were submerged, damaging crops and livelihoods.
In 2022, catastrophic floods triggered by unprecedented monsoon rains killed more than 1,700 people and affected over 33 million nationwide.
