Pakistan flood death toll climbs to 58

KARACHI, Pakistan — Three days of heavy monsoon rains triggering flash floods killed at least 58 people across Pakistan, as troops with boats rushed Sunday to evacuate people in the country’s southern Sindh and southwestern Baluchistan provinces.

Every year, many cities in Pakistan struggle to cope with the annual monsoon deluge, drawing criticism about poor planning. The monsoon season runs from July through September, with swelling rivers damaging crops and infrastructure.

Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said 19 people were killed in rain-related incidents in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, 12 in southern Sindh province, eight in Punjab province and 10 in the country’s northern Gligit Baltistan region in the past three days.

Rains also damaged about 100 homes and caused a breach in a flooded main canal, inundating villages in Sindh province. The military said troops used boats to rescue stranded people. It said a medical camp was established and food was being provided.

Heavy rains also lashed many districts in the southwestern Baluchistan province, killing eight people, damaging homes and inundating many villages in the district of Jhal Magsi, said Saleem Zakir, spokesman for the provincial disaster management authority. He said rescuers with the army’s help were still trying to evacuate people.

He said floods damaged a bridge and a gas pipeline and destroyed coastal roads on the Arabian Sea, severing links to the port of Gwadar, part of China’s multibillion-dollar one-road project linking south and Central Asia to China.

(AP/Pervez Masih) A woman carries sacks of wheat and household goods Sunday as she wades through a flooded area of Dadu in Pakistan’s Sindh province.