Death toll from 6 weeks of monsoon rains jumps to 154 in Pakistan

Authorities say the death toll from nearly six weeks of monsoon rains across Pakistan has risen to 154

ISLAMABAD -- The death toll from nearly six weeks of monsoon rains and floods across Pakistan has risen to 154, officials said Thursday, as downpours continued in much of the country, inundating some villages.

More than 1,500 homes have been damaged since July 1, when the monsoon rains began, the National Disaster Management Authority said. Orchards in remote areas of the southwestern Baluchistan province were damaged, and rains flooded many streets in the eastern city of Lahore.

The Pakistan-administered portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir has also been battered by rains, causing landslides.

Many of the 154 deaths occurred in the eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to the disaster agency and provincial authorities.

Currently, more than 2,000 people are in relief camps in rain-affected areas in the southern Sindh province, officials said.

On Thursday, the aid group International Rescue Committee said it is preparing to scale up its response in Pakistan with looming rains posing a threat to the lives and livelihoods of millions.

“Our priority is to ensure that affected communities receive timely and adequate support to prevent this humanitarian crisis from deepening,” the group's director in Pakistan, Shabnam Baloch, said in a statement.

Pakistan is in the middle of the annual monsoon season, which runs from July through September. Scientists and weather forecasters blame climate change for heavy rains in recent years.

So far this year, Pakistan has received less rain than in 2022, when climate-induced downpours swelled rivers and inundated at one point one-third of the country, killing 1,739 people and causing $30 billion in damage.