Pakistan Flash Flood, 20 Bodies Found In Mountains Village

ILUSTRATION/Obviously UNICEF/Asad Zaidi

JAKARTA - Rescue workers on Tuesday found 20 bodies in a mountainous village in northwestern Pakistan, where flash floods were triggered by heavy rains tearing down houses and buildings.

Currently, the total death toll has reached 358 people due to flooding in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province since last Friday. more than 200 of them are in the Buner district which was the worst affected.

Reported by Reuters on Tuesday, August 19, the Provincial Disaster Management Agency said 30 children were among the dead.

Heavy rain is a rare phenomenon where it rains more than 100 mm (4 inches) in an hour in small areas, officials said.

Authorities have warned of further rain in two periods of the rainy season until September 10.

In Buner, it rained more than 150 mm in an hour on Friday morning. Heavy rain from other heavy rains hit near Gadoon in the mountains of Swabi district, also in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, on Monday.

Nisar Khan District Commissioner said in addition to the death toll there, which increased from 11 on Monday, some residents were still missing from the remote village.

"We mobilize all available resources, including heavy equipment such as excavators, to evacuate missing bodies," he said.

Heavy flood water flows heavily from the mountains and sweeps houses.

Heavy rains claimed lives and spread damage in several districts in the northwest, with most of the victims killed in flash floods, according to the National Disaster Management Agency.

More aid equipment including tents, blankets, power generators, pumps, medicines, and fire extinguishers have been sent to flood-affected areas, the National Disaster Management Agency said on Tuesday.

Heavy rains and rains this rainy season have killed 695 people across Pakistan since late June.