Nearly two dozen killed as rains, floods hit SW Pakistan
At least 20 Pakistanis have lost their lives when torrential rains accompanied by flashfloods hit several districts in the troubled southwestern province of Balochistan, disaster management officials say.
Local authorities said at least 12 people have died and scores of others sustained injuries over the past two days in Chagai and Zhob districts of the province as the roofs of several homes caved in due to heavy rainfall and hailstorms.
Zahid Saleem, chief of the province’s disaster management authority, said four children and a woman were also killed in Sheerani district on Friday after the roof of a house collapsed.
Saleem added that one person also died after being struck by lightning in Dalbandin district. Three people were also killed in two districts of Mastung and Loralai.
Video footage showed flood waters inundating homes in Chagai, Chaman, Loralai, Mastung, Pishin, Quetta, Taank, Zhob and other districts, with residents taking refuge on rooftops.
Local residents in affected areas have grabbed whatever they could salvage, and waded through knee-deep water in search of higher ground.
Meteorologists say more rain is expected to hit the province over the weekend.
Pakistan is hit by severe weather patterns every year, which have affected millions of people, claimed hundreds of lives and wiped out millions of acres of farmland in recent years.
Monsoon, a rainy season that starts from mid-July and lasts till end of August, strikes Pakistan hard each year.
Torrential downpours and flooding killed 81 people and affected almost 300,000 Pakistanis across the country during the rainy season last summer.
In 2010, flooding also killed 1,200 people and impacted one-fifth of the population of 180 million.
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