Heat blasts Pakistan as glacial lake floods village

Record-high April temperatures over Pakistan melted glaciers faster than normal, triggering a flash flood Saturday in a village in the northern region of the country that wiped out part of a key bridge and damaged homes and buildings.

The event, known as a glacial lake outburst flood, occurs when water is suddenly released from a glacial lake due to a dam failure or breach. Warm temperatures over the past month accelerated snow and ice melt near an ice-dammed lake by Shishpar Glacier, near Mount Shishpar, increasing the lake’s volume and likely causing the breach.

Authorities are providing food, winterized tents and other necessities to affected families in Pakistan’s Hunza District.

The flooding that damaged the Karakoram Highway followed Pakistan’s hottest April on record since 1961, intensified by humancaused climate change. Over the past month, heat waves have baked the Indian subcontinent.

Several weather stations set record highs for April: Jacobabad hit its warmest daytime temperature at 120 degrees Fahrenheit on April 30; the Karachi Airport reached its warmest nighttime temperature at 84.9 degrees Fahrenheit, also on April 30.

While most glacial lakes typically form in May, rapid snowmelt caused the lake near Shishpar to form a month earlier in April.