Experts warn that the floods in Pakistan which have claimed more than 1000 lives since June may not have reached its peak.
The unusually heavy rains caused flooding in all four provinces of the country, with more than 30 million people being affected.
Flash flooding has swept away 800,000 livestock and villages. Soldiers and rescue workers evacuated residents to relief centers and fed thousands of displaced Pakistanis.
Nearly 300,000.00 homes were destroyed. Numerous roads are impassable. There have been extensive power outages.
Sky News was told by Peter Ophoff from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies: “The monsoon should have ended by the end of July.” Now, we are in the middle of August and still have heavy rain. Many believe that we are still not at the peak.
After new deaths were reported in many provinces, the death toll reached at least 1,061 persons.
Flooding caused by the Swat River in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa left many people homeless.
Around 180,000 people were evacuated from Charsadda villages and 150,000 from Nowshehra.
Sherry Rhman, Pakistan‘s top-ranking climate official, stated in a Twitter video that Pakistan was facing a “serious and unprecedented climate catastrophe, one among the worst in the past decade.”
She stated that she was at the “ground zero” of extreme weather events at the moment. This includes heatwaves and forest fires, flash flooding, flash floods, multiple glacial lake outbursts and flood events. Now, the monsoon is wreaking havoc across the country.
Sky News also heard Peter Ophoff tell it: “The situation is dire in Pakistan. The worst floods for decades are upon us.
Access is the biggest problem. There are approximately 3,000km (1.860 miles) of roads destroyed and 160 bridges that have been washed away.
Bilawal Bhutto Zardarari, Pakistan’s foreign minister, stated that Pakistan requires financial assistance to address “overwhelming floods” and the destruction of many crops that were once vital to the livelihood of large numbers.
This week, the International Monetary Fund board will decide whether to release $1.2bn (PS1bn), as part of the seventh- and eighth tranches of Pakistan’s bailout program. It was initiated in 2019.
He stated that he expected not only the IMF but also the international community to fully grasp the extent of the devastation.
Pakistan’s government sent soldiers to aid civilian authorities in relief and rescue operations.
To help with relief efforts, General Qamar Javed Bajiwa, Military Chief, visited flood-affected areas in southern Sindh Province.
The Pakistani army claimed that it had flown 22 tourists to safety who were stuck in a valley in Pakistan’s northern region.