Death toll in Pak floods crosses 50; over 2 lakh affected

Islamabad, Jul 27: More than 50 people have been killed and over two lakh others affected by the floods caused by torrential rain across Pakistan, officials said on Monday.

At least 26 people were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, five in Punjab, seven in Balochistan and 13 people in Gilgit-Baltistan in PoK, taking the death toll to 51, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.

Besides, a total of 873 houses have been destroyed across the three provinces. Met department has forecast heavy rains in next three to four days, Daily Times reported today.

NDMA said that in the largest province of Punjab, 366 villages and over 2,00,000 people were affected, while crops on 2,05,366 acres of land were damaged.

The rescuers recovered 24 more bodies from the deluged Chitral district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Saturday, police said.

The already inundated district has been lashed by heavy rainfall since last week, which have swept away roads and bridges, cutting away remote areas from the district headquarters.

The district's Mor Kahu area is the worst-hit where around seven villages have been swept away. It has been already cut off from rest of the district and there are reports of shortages of food and medicines.

Over 200 relief camps have been set up in the affected areas. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who visited the affected areas on Friday, has announced Rs 500 million aid relief package for those affected in the district besides Rs five lakh for each destroyed house as compensation and waiving of the agriculture loans.

The latest spell of rains, which started on Friday, is likely to continue for another two days in Pakistan, according to officials.

PTI