ISLAMABAD/PESHAWAR: At least two were killed in Pakistan’s Punjab province due to heavy rains and storms over the last 24 hours, authorities said on Saturday, as the nationwide death toll rose to 68.
Heavy rains and thunderstorms have lashed parts of Pakistan since late last month, causing walls, roofs and trees to cave in and damaging homes in several districts across the South Asian country.
A 55-year-old man was killed in a roof collapse in Punjab’s Sargodha district, while a 40-year-old woman died in a similar incident in Chiniot, according to Rescue 1122 spokesman Farooq Ahmed. Another 18 people were injured.
“Seriously injured persons were shifted to nearby hospitals after being given immediate medical assistance,” Ahmed said in a statement on Saturday.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) reported 30 deaths and 85 injuries due to rains that have lashed the province since March 25.
“So far, a total of 140 houses have been damaged due to the rains. Of which, 115 houses were partially damaged,” the KP Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said on Saturday.
Twenty-seven people have been killed in Karachi in the country’s southern Sindh province since last month, according to provincial authorities. The southwestern Balochistan province has witnessed nine deaths. Several others were injured in rain-related incidents in the two provinces.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority on Friday warned of heavy rain, thunderstorms and strong winds in parts of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the next 24 hours, while snowfall was expected in mountainous regions of Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir.
Authorities have also warned of possible urban flooding in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including Peshawar and surrounding districts, as well as landslides in northern areas that could disrupt travel.
Pakistan is among the countries most vulnerable to climate change and has in recent years experienced increasingly erratic weather patterns, including extreme rainfall, floods and heatwaves that have exposed gaps in infrastructure and disaster preparedness.
The country is still recovering from catastrophic floods in 2022 that killed more than 1,700 people and affected over 33 million, while last year’s monsoon season also triggered widespread flooding, killing more than 900 people.
