Pakistan extends condolences to Afghanistan after flash floods kill over 150

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Saturday extended condolences to the Afghan government over the loss of more than 150 lives in flash floods in northern Afghanistan, the Pakistani foreign office said.
Heavy rains on Friday caused flash floods in Baghlan, Takhar and Badakhshan provinces that have killed 153 people and injured another 138, according to the interim Afghan interior ministry.
Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities sent helicopters overnight to assist civilians after reports emerged that over 100 people were stranded in these areas.
“The Government and the people of Pakistan express their heartfelt condolences on the tragic loss of life and widespread damage to property caused by heavy rains and flash floods in several provinces of Afghanistan,” the Pakistani foreign office said in a statement.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the victims, injured and the communities affected by this natural calamity and we pray for the early recovery of those missing.”
Pakistan stood in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan during this difficult time, it added.
Pakistan itself experienced its “wettest April since 1961,” the country’s weather agency said this month, with at least 144 deaths in thunderstorms and house collapses due to heavy rains.
April rainfall was recorded at 59.3 millimeters, “excessively above” the normal average of 22.5 millimeters, Pakistan’s metrology department said in its monthly climate report.
While much of Asia was sweltering due to heatwaves, Pakistan’s national monthly temperature for April was 23.67 degrees Celsius (74 degrees Fahrenheit) 0.87 degrees lower than the average of 24.54, the report noted.
In the summer of 2022, a third of Pakistan was submerged by unprecedented monsoon rains that displaced millions of people and cost the country $30 billion in damage and economic losses, according to a World Bank estimate.