Over 200 dead in flash floods across Kashmir

At least 60 people were killed and more than 80 remain missing after flash floods struck the Kashmir region, while in Pakistan-administered Kashmir the death toll rose to around 164, including 78 in the Buner district. The disaster swept away homes, destroyed infrastructure, and forced hundreds of residents to seek safety on higher ground, while rescue operations continued in treacherous weather and mountainous terrain.

Rescuers evacuated around 1,600 stranded people from flood-hit mountainous districts in both countries. Officials warn that more heavy rain could worsen conditions in the already devastated Himalayan and northern regions. A cloudburst washed away several houses in Northwestern Bajur district, killing 18 people and stranding several others, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s disaster authority told AFP.

The meteoroligcal department has also issued a heavy rain alert for the northwest, urging people to avoid ‘unnecessary exposure to vulnerable areas’. The monsoon season brings South Asia about three-quarters of its annual rainfall, vital for agriculture and food security, but also brings destruction.

The torrential rains that have affected Pakistan since the start of the summer monsoon, described as ‘unusual’ by auhtorities, have killed more than 320 people, nearly half of them children. Most of the deaths have been caused by collapsing houses, flash floods and electrocutions.

The deaths caused by torrential rainfall follow patterns of increased precipitation across South Asia. Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan’s 255 million people, recorded 73% more rainfall than 2024. Landslides and flash floods are common during the monsoon season, which usually begins in June and eases by the end of September. Scientists have said that climate change has made weather events around the world more extreme and more frequent.

In 2022, monsoon floods submerged a third of the country and killed up 1700 people.

Pakistan, and the wider Kashmir region, is extremely vulnerable to the effects of climate change and climate disasters, with recent flashfloods calling back to the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, which killed up to 90,000

Al24news