Heavy rains kill 29 in Pakistan as houses collapse, landslides block roads

The majority of deaths reported in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

At least 29 people have been killed and 50 others injured due to heavy rains that swept Pakistan in the past 48 hours, causing several houses to collapse and landslides to block roads, particularly in the northwest.

At least 23 rain-related deaths were reported in various areas in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan since Thursday night, the provincial disaster management authority said in a statement on Sunday.

Five people died in the southwestern Balochistan province after the coastal town of Gwadar got flooded, forcing authorities to use boats to evacuate some 10,000 people.

Casualties and extensive damage were also reported in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the National Disaster Management Authority said in a separate statement.

Emergency relief was being provided to people in affected areas and heavy machinery was being used to remove debris blocking highways, the agency added.

The country’s Karakoram Highway, which links Pakistan with China, is still blocked in some places due to landslides, according to the spokesperson for the northern Gilgit Baltistan region, Faizullah Faraq.

Authorities advised tourists against travelling to the scenic north due to weather conditions. Last week, several visitors were stranded there because of the heavy rains, which came as Pakistan witnessed severe snowfall.

Pakistan is among the 10 most vulnerable countries to climate change despite the South Asian nation’s almost zero contribution to global carbon emissions, according to the United Nations.

This year, Pakistan is witnessing an unusual delay in winter rains, starting in February instead of November. Monsoon and winter rains cause damage in Pakistan every year.

In 2022, climate-induced unusual monsoon rains and flooding devastated most of the areas in impoverished Pakistan, killing nearly 1,800 people, affecting about 33 million people and displacing nearly eight million.

The rains and floods in 2022 also caused billions of dollars of damage to the country’s economy and some of the areas people who lost their homes are still living in makeshift homes.