ISLAMABAD: Heavy rain and flash flooding across Pakistan have killed 45 people in just a few days since the start of the monsoon season, disaster management officials said Sunday.
The highest toll was recorded in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa that borders Afghanistan, where 10 children were among 21 killed.
The disaster management authority said 14 of those victims died in the Swat Valley, where media reported a flash flood swept away families on a riverbank.
In Pakistan’s most populous province of Punjab, along the frontier with India, 13 fatalities have been recorded since Wednesday.
Eight of them were children who died when walls or roofs collapsed during heavy rain, while the adults were killed in flash floods.
Eleven other deaths related to the monsoon downpours were recorded in Sindh and Balochistan provinces.
The national meteorological service warned that the risk of heavy rain and possible flash floods will remain high until at least Saturday.
Last month, at least 32 people were killed in severe storms in the South Asian nation, which experienced several extreme weather events in the spring, including strong hailstorms.
Pakistan is one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the effects of climate change, and its 240 million residents are facing extreme weather events with increasing frequency.
Pakistan flash floods, heavy rain kill 45 in just days
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Pakistan flash floods, heavy rain kill 45 in just days
- The national meteorological service warned that the risk of heavy rain and possible flash floods will remain high until at least Saturday
Spain swine fever spreads outside containment zone
- African swine fever is a viral disease that is harmless to humans but nearly always fatal for pigs and wild boars
BARCELONA: African swine fever has been detected outside a containment zone in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region for the first time since its outbreak in November, officials said on Friday.
African swine fever is a viral disease that is harmless to humans but nearly always fatal for pigs and wild boars.
Although it has not spread to domestic pig farms, the outbreak has disrupted exports from Spain, the world’s third-largest producer of pork and its derivatives.
Thirteen new cases in wild boars have been reported, including two in areas outside the six-kilometer containment zone near Barcelona, Catalonia’s agriculture department said.
Authorities then expanded the high-risk zone to the affected municipalities and restricted access to the surrounding woods to prevent further spread.
The outbreak was Spain’s first reported case since 1994, and more than 100 cases have now been detected in wild boars.
“More than ever, it is essential not to lower our guard against a disease that remains present,” said Oscar Ordeig, regional agriculture minister.
The origin of the outbreak remains unknown, and a judicial investigation is ongoing.
