Pakistan flood death toll tops 1,000

An auto-rickshaw drives past temporary tents of people who fled their flood hit homes set along a road in Sukkur, Sindh province, on August 27, 2022. Thousands of people living near flood-swollen rivers in Pakistan’s north were ordered to evacuate on August 27 as the death toll from devastating monsoon rains neared 1,000 with no end in sight. – AFP photo.

The death toll from monsoon flooding in Pakistan since June has reached 1,033, according to figures released on Sunday by the country’s National Disaster Management Authority.

It said that 119 people had died in the previous 24 hours as heavy rains continued to lash parts of the country.

The annual monsoon is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but each year it also brings a wave of destruction.

Officials say this year’s monsoon flooding has affected more than 33 million people — one in seven Pakistanis — destroying or badly damaging nearly a million homes.

The NDMA said more than two million acres of cultivated crops have been wiped out, 3,451 kilometres (2,150 miles) of roads destroyed, and 149 bridges washed away.