Islamabad: About 101 people were killed and 180 others injured during the ongoing monsoon season starting from June 25 till date across Pakistan, the country’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.
The country’s east Punjab province was worst hit in the rains, with 57 fatalities and 118 injuries, the NDMA said on Thursday, adding that 53 houses were also destroyed in the heavy rains that lashed the province, including the provincial capital of Lahore.
The Lahore’s rains, which were called “record-breaking” by the country’s caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi, caused urban flooding in the city, inundating several areas and disrupting road traffic for hours.
Rawalpindi city of the province also received heavy rains for over 12 hours on Wednesday, resulting in a rise in water levels in streams and drainages to an alarming level, and the local municipal authority had to call in the army to help them in meeting any untoward situation.
At least 12 people were killed Wednesday after a wall of an under-construction bridge collapsed on laborers living in make-shift tents, due to heavy rain in the city.
According to a district administration spokesman, rainfall gauging stations recorded up to 200 mm of rain in several areas of the city, causing urban flooding and roof collapse incidents.
A total of 25 people were killed and 41 others were injured in separate rain-related accidents in the country’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, the NDMA said.
The torrential rains also damaged 60 houses and perished 43 livestock in the province, the authority added.
In the country’s south Sindh province, 10 people were killed and two others were injured when lightning struck a house during a thunderstorm earlier in June.
Six people were killed and 13 others were injured in southwest Balochistan province, and three more lost their lives in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, where five people were also injured in heavy rains, the NDMA’s figures showed.
One man got injured in the north Gilgit Baltistan region, where seven houses were destroyed and 15 livestock perished in heavy rains.
