Death toll after flash floods in northwest Pakistan reaches 60

Death toll after flash floods in northwest Pakistan reaches 60

2011-08-30 16:42:04 GMT+7 (ICT)

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN (BNO NEWS) -- The death toll as a result of rain-triggered flash floods in the northwestern region of Pakistan has risen to at least 60, while three others remain missing, local officials said on Tuesday.

The flash floods, triggered by heavy rainfall, hit the Kundian Valley in the Kohistan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province on late Wednesday evening and early Thursday morning. Some 70 houses were destroyed while the flood waters also washed away livestock, property, and trees.

The death toll was initially put at 33 on Friday but reached 60 on Tuesday after the bodies of more missing people were located. As of Tuesday, three people remained missing and are feared to have been killed.

Pakistan's armed forces has carried out relief operations in the region, shifting at least 150 people to safer areas and providing them with basic aid such as food, blankets, tents, and medicines. More rain is forecast to hit the region later this week.

The affected area is a mountainous region which is difficult to access, but flooding and landslides have made the area almost completely inaccessible. It took several days before the rescue operation was well underway.

Earlier this month, torrential rains wrecked havoc in most parts of the southeastern province of Sindh, killing at least 18 people and leaving dozens more injured. Some areas saw the worst rainfall since at least 1936.

In late July 2010, above-average heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Punjab and Balochistan regions killed approximately 2,000 people and affected around 20 million others. It was the country's worst flooding in modern history.

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