BUNER, Pakistan (AP) — Rescuers recovered dozens extra our bodies from the rubble of collapsed houses in a northwestern district of Pakistan, bringing the demise toll to not less than 274, as authorities defended their response to the flooding and stated they didn’t want any international assist at this level.
Heavy rains and flooding additionally killed dozens of individuals in neighboring Kashmir.
Mohammad Suhail, a spokesman for Pakistan’s emergency service, stated 54 our bodies had been present in Buner, a mountainous space in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the place torrential rains and cloudbursts triggered large flooding on Friday.
Suhail stated villagers stay lacking, and search efforts are targeted on areas the place houses had been flattened by torrents of water that swept down from the mountains, carrying boulders that smashed into homes like explosions.
Authorities have warned of extra deluges and attainable landslides between now and Tuesday, urging native administrations to stay on alert. Increased-than-normal monsoon rains have lashed the nation since June 26 and killed greater than 600.
In India-administered Kashmir, situated throughout Pakistan’s northeastern border, rains triggered extra flash floods in two villages within the Kathua district, killing seven individuals, officers stated Sunday. Rescuers in Chositi village are nonetheless searching for dozens of lacking individuals after the realm was hit by flash floods final week throughout an annual Hindu pilgrimage. No less than 60 individuals had been killed, and a few 150 injured. Over 300 others had been rescued.
Warnings of extra intense rain to come back
Residents in Buner have accused officers of failing to warn them to evacuate after torrential rain and cloudbursts triggered lethal flooding and landslides. There was no warning broadcast from mosque loudspeakers, a standard technique in distant areas.
The federal government stated that whereas an early warning system was in place, the sudden downpour in Buner was so intense that the deluge struck earlier than residents could possibly be alerted.
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Lt. Gen. Inam Haider, chairman of the Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Authority, instructed a unexpectedly convened information convention in Islamabad that Pakistan was experiencing shifting climate patterns due to local weather change.
Because the monsoon season started in June, Pakistan has already obtained 50% extra rainfall than in the identical interval final yr, he added.
He warned that extra intense climate might comply with, with heavy rains forecast to proceed this month.
Some nations have reached out to Islamabad providing assist, however Haider stated Pakistan has enough sources and doesn’t require international help right now.
Asfandyar Khan Khattak, director-general of the Provincial Catastrophe Administration Authority, stated there was “no forecasting system anyplace on the planet” that would predict the precise time and site of a cloudburst, a sudden and intense downpour.
Mohammad Iqbal, a schoolteacher in Pir Baba village, stated the dearth of a well timed warning system prompted casualties and compelled many to flee their houses on the final second.
“Survivors escaped with nothing,” he stated. “If individuals had been knowledgeable earlier, lives might have been saved and residents might have moved to safer locations.”
Idrees Mahsud, a catastrophe administration official, stated Pakistan’s early warning system used satellite tv for pc imagery and meteorological knowledge to ship alerts to native authorities. These had been shared by the media and neighborhood leaders. He stated monsoon rains that when solely swelled rivers now additionally triggered city flooding.
An emergency providers spokesman in Buner, Mohammad Sohail, stated greater than half the broken roads within the district had reopened by Sunday, permitting autos and heavy equipment to achieve cut-off villages.
Crews had been clearing piles of rocks and dirt dumped by the floods. They had been nonetheless utilizing heavy equipment to take away the rubble of collapsed houses after households reported that a few of their relations had been lacking.
In one of many deadliest incidents, 24 individuals from one household died within the village of Qadar Nagar when floodwaters swept by their house on the eve of a marriage. The top of the household, Umar Khan, stated he survived the floods as a result of he was out of the home on the time.
4 of his relations have but to be discovered.
Pakistan is extremely susceptible to climate-induced disasters. In 2022, a record-breaking monsoon killed almost 1,700 individuals and destroyed thousands and thousands of houses.
The nation additionally suffers common flash floods and landslides in the course of the monsoon season, which runs from June to September, notably within the rugged northwest, the place villages are sometimes perched on steep slopes and riverbanks.
Consultants say local weather change is intensifying the frequency and severity of such excessive climate occasions in South Asia.
Khalid Khan, a climate professional, stated Pakistan produces lower than 1% of planet-warming emissions however faces heatwaves, heavy rains, glacial outburst floods and now cloudbursts, underscoring how local weather change is devastating communities inside hours.
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Related Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad and Rasool Dawar in Buner, Pakistan, contributed to this story, which was revealed Aug. 17, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
