AL Jazeera:
At least 35 people have been killed and 50 others injured due to heavy rains that have swept Pakistan since Thursday, causing several houses to collapse and landslides to block roads, particularly in the northwest, authorities said.
At least 30 rain-related deaths were reported in various areas in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan since Thursday night. Many of the fatalities were women and children, the provincial disaster management authority said in a statement on Sunday.
Five people died in the southwestern Balochistan province after the coastal town of Gwadar got flooded, forcing authorities to use boats to evacuate some 10,000 people.
Sarfraz Bugti, the chief minister in Balochistan, said on Sunday that 700 homes had been damaged.
Casualties and extensive damage were also reported in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, the National Disaster Management Authority said in a separate statement.
Emergency relief was being provided to people in affected areas and heavy machinery was being used to remove debris blocking highways, the agency added.
The Pakistan army has distributed 28 tonnes of food rations to more than 1,300 households and set up medical camps to treat the wounded, Pakistan’s Samaa TV reported.
The country’s Karakoram Highway, which links Pakistan with China, is still blocked in some places due to landslides, according to the spokesperson for the northern Gilgit Baltistan region, Faizullah Faraq.
