The death toll from heavy rains across the country has risen to 10, with 43 people injured, as strong winds and thunderstorms triggered flash floods and destroyed homes in central and northern parts of Pakistan, officials said on Wednesday.
This is the second time in a week that a storm of such intensity wreaked havoc in many parts of the country, damaging crops, properties, and other infrastructure. At least 19 people were killed and over 90 others injured as powerful windstorms and heavy rains had battered many areas in Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Saturday.
Four women and a man died in Kashmir and three in KP, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said, while other officials said two died in Punjab.
“One person is still missing,” Haroon Rasheed, a senior government official in Kashmir, told AFP, adding that 12 houses and a mosque were destroyed in one village.
According to the NDMA, stormy weather is expected to continue in northern and central parts of the country until Saturday.
Pakistan is grappling with increasingly frequent extreme weather events blamed on climate change. Temperatures reached near-record levels in April — as high as 46.5 Celsius in parts of Punjab. Schools in Punjab and Balochistan have closed early for summer vacations because of the heat.
