AUTHORITIES DECLARE STATE OF EMERGENCY IN THE SOUTHWEST PAKISTAN AS LIGHTENING, TORRENTIAL RAINS KILL 49

At least 49 people have died in Pakistan in the last three days due to lightning and torrential rainfall, officials announced on Monday. The southwest of the nation has declared a state of emergency.

When lightning hit farmers harvesting wheat, some people died. Numerous homes in the northwest and eastern Punjab province collapsed as a result of rain.

According to Arfan Kathia, a representative for the provincial disaster management department, Punjab has had 21 fatalities this week, with more rain predicted. Twenty-one individuals lost their lives in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan, according to Khursheed Anwar, a spokesperson for the disaster management administration.

In addition, seven persons were killed by rain in the southwestern region of Baluchistan and the capital, Islamabad. The capital of Baluchistan, Quetta, and the northwest city of Peshawar both had flooded streets.

In televised remarks, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif declared that he had given the go-ahead for disaster supplies to be provided by authorities. The rains, he claimed, will boost Pakistan's water reservoirs.

An environmental specialist from Pakistan named Rafay Alam stated that such significant rainfall in April is unprecedented.

"Two years ago, Pakistan witnessed a heat wave in March and April and now we are witnessing rains and it is all of because of climate change, which had caused heavy flooding in 2022," he said.

In 2022, downpours swelled rivers and at one point inundated one-third of Pakistan, killing 1,739 people. The floods also caused $30 billion in damage.

Meanwhile, heavy flooding from seasonal rains in Afghanistan killed 33 people and injured 27 others in three days, according to Abdullah Janan Saiq, the Taliban's spokesman for the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management.

More than 600 houses were damaged or destroyed while around 200 livestock died. The flooding also damaged large areas of agricultural land and more than 85 kilometers (53 miles) of roads, he said.

He said authorities in Afghanistan had provided aid to nearly 23,000 families, and that flash floods were reported in 20 of the country's 34 provinces.

2024-04-16T06:09:55Z dg43tfdfdgfd