‘Doomsday’ as one third of Pakistan’ faces flooding
Monster monsoon that has killed 1,000 wreaks havoc and threatens catastrophe, says country’s climate chief
ONE third of Pakistan could be plunged under water before the floods that have already killed 1,000 people begin to recede, the country’s climate scientists have warned.
Nearly 10 million people have been displaced and 300,000 homes have been destroyed by an “unprecedented and epic” deluge that dwarfs previously recorded monsoon flooding and has hit all four provinces of the country.
Sherry Rehman, Pakistan’s most senior climate official, said that the Islamic nation was experiencing a “serious climate catastrophe, one of the hardest in the decade”.
“We are [at] ground zero of the frontline of extreme weather events, in [a] cascade of heatwaves, forest fires, flash floods, multiple glacial lake outbursts, flood events and now the monster monsoon of the decade is wreaking non-stop havoc [in] the country,” she said.
“We could well have one fourth or one third of Pakistan under water” by the time the rains recede.
All four of Pakistan’s main provinces have been affected by what some describe as the worst flooding in living memory.
Nearly 300,000 homes have been destroyed, numerous roads rendered impassable and electricity outages have been widespread, affecting millions of people.
“It looks like doomsday,” said Muhammad Hussain, a farmer from a village near the banks of the Swat river in northern Pakistan.
As rains intensified, Mr Hussain became anxious about rising waters and told his children and wife that they should leave the home. As the family and other villagers hurried towards a nearby mountain for safety, thunderous waves passed through the village and buried his home, crops and livestock in a blink of an eye, he said.
“We were lucky to have survived but there is nothing left to fall back on.”
Similar scenes have been repeated all over the country, with flash floods in the mountainous norther province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and only tree tops visible above floodwaters in the south-eastern province of Sindh.
Footage taken by a helicopter in Balochistan, the desert province neighbouring Iran, showed a vast expanse of water with no visible land on which to drop humanitarian aid.
Flood waters have now entered Punjab, the most populous province.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management
‘We are at ground zero of the frontline of extreme weather events, in a cascade of heatwaves, forest fires’
Authority said yesterday that 1,033 people had been killed by flooding since mid-june, when the monsoon rains commenced unusually early.
Pakistani scientists have attributed the floods to freak temperatures and unprecedented downpours, likely the result of climate change.
Pakistan has 7,253 glaciers, the highest number outside the polar regions, which started rapidly melting after a heatwave struck the nation in July.
Rains heavier than a normal monsoon triggered “glacial bursting”, leading to flash floods that overwhelmed the banks of the country’s rivers.
The extreme conditions have contributed to electricity and internet outages and made many roads impassable.
Rescue helicopters have also struggled to fly in the heavy rain, leaving many trapped by rising waters no way to escape.