ISLAMABAD – About 101 people were killed and 180 injured during the ongoing monsoon season starting from June 25 across Pakistan, Xinhua quoted the country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
The country’s east Punjab province was worst hit, with 57 fatalities and 118 injuries, the NDMA said on Thursday, adding that 53 houses were destroyed in the heavy rains that lashed the province, including the provincial capital of Lahore.
The Lahore rains, which were called “record-breaking” by the country’s caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, caused flooding in the city, inundating several areas and disrupting traffic for hours.
The province’s Rawalpindi city also received heavy rains for over 12 hours on Wednesday, resulting in a rise in water levels in streams and drains to an alarming level, and the local municipal authority had to call in the army to help them.
At least 12 people were killed Wednesday after a wall of an under-construction bridge collapsed on labourers living in make-shift tents.
According to a district administration spokesman, up to 200 mm of rainfall was recorded in several areas, causing flooding and roofs to collapse.
A total of 25 people were killed and 41 others injured in separate rain-related incidents in the country’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the NDMA said.
The torrential rains also damaged 60 houses and 43 livestock perished in the province, the authorities added.
In the country’s south Sindh province, 10 people were killed and two others injured when lightning struck a house during a thunderstorm earlier in June.
Six people were killed and 13 others injured in southwest Balochistan province, and three people lost their lives in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where five people were also injured in the heavy rains, the NDMA’s figures showed.
One man got injured in the north Gilgit Baltistan region where seven houses were destroyed and 15 livestock perished. – Bernama
