[Global Times Special Correspondent in Pakistan Cheng Shijia] The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan announced entering a state of emergency on the 16th. According to the Associated Press of Pakistan, continuous heavy rain caused frequent flash floods and landslides in the northwest of the country, resulting in more than 300 deaths within 3 days. The rescue operation is still ongoing.
Recently, Pakistan has entered its monsoon season, and many areas in the northwest have issued red warnings for heavy rain. Short-term intense rainfall has caused many villages in the mountainous areas of northwestern Pakistan to be hit by floods. According to the Pakistani meteorological department, this round of sudden heavy rainfall is expected to continue until the 21st. According to a field visit by Pakistani newspaper Dawn on the 16th, in the worst-affected Buner area, a village with 120 households reported more than 80 missing people after the flood, and only more than 40 bodies have been found so far. A villager recalled that the flood came suddenly in the morning, and people had to climb onto their rooftops for refuge. He witnessed some houses being swept away and turned into ruins.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that the government is mobilizing all forces to carry out flood relief operations, including deploying more heavy machinery and coordinating medical assistance for the injured. According to the Disaster Management Authority of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 2,071 trapped people have been rescued in Buner area, but rescue workers are still struggling to reach affected areas due to flash floods, landslides, and continuous rainfall. On the 16th, a rescue helicopter crashed during operations, resulting in the death of five crew members. The provincial disaster management authority pointed out that the floods have severely damaged local infrastructure, and many critical roads blocked by flash floods are under emergency repairs. On the 16th, the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa announced a special allocation of 1.55 billion Pakistani rupees (about RMB 39 million) to urgently repair damaged infrastructure and provide 1 billion Pakistani rupees for assistance and resettlement of affected personnel.
According to Dawn newspaper, this is another large-scale flood crisis that Pakistan has encountered since 2022. Currently, in the upstream areas of Pakistan’s main rivers, most dams have reached dangerous water levels. If the heavy rain continues, it may pose a serious threat of floods to central and southern Pakistan and the downstream areas of major rivers.