Updated on January 13th, 2023
Padidan, a town in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province, received 1,635.5 mm of rain this monsoon season, breaking the 49-year-old record of 1,597.2 mm, as torrential rains wreaked havoc across Pakistan, leaving South Asia 830 people have been killed. Country.
According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), 313 children have been killed in torrential rains and floods across the country since the onset of the monsoon season in mid-June.
The worst devastation has been seen in Pakistan’s southwestern provinces of Baluchistan and Sindh, where 225 and 239 people have been killed, respectively.
Dr. Sardar Sarfaraz, chief meteorologist, told Arab News, “1,635.5 mm of water has fallen in Padedan and it is still raining.” This is the highest monsoon rainfall since 1973 when Sialkot received 1,587.2 mm of rainfall.
According to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Sindh, 30 people, including 15 children, have died so far due to the rains between Monday and Tuesday night.
The report said that 257,671 houses were also partially damaged by the monsoon rains while 110,562 houses were completely destroyed.
Shahzad Shah Jilani, a local leader of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) in Khairpur, however, told Arab News that 15 people were killed in heavy rains in his district on Tuesday, taking the death toll in the district to 51. done
“These are official figures but the actual figures are much higher as many areas in Khairpur and Sukkur are inaccessible,” he said, adding that he had seen hundreds of houses collapse.
“We are now moving towards Naseer Faqir Jalalani, a union council which is completely submerged in water and people have taken shelter in the nearby area,” Jilani added.
Pakistan’s Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman on Wednesday urged Pakistan’s international partners to mobilize to tackle the disaster.
He wrote on Twitter that “There is no example of torrential rains in Sindh at this time, Balochistan, DG Khan is also in danger,” adding that thousands of people have been displaced.
Sherry Rehman said that the Ministry of Climate Change had warned the federal and provincial governments regarding heavy monsoon rains.
Pakistan’s election watchdog postponed local elections in nine districts of southern Sindh province on Tuesday due to heavy rains and floods, which have so far killed 239 people in the province.
The first phase of local body elections in 14 districts of Sindh was held in June, but the second phase of elections in Karachi and Hyderabad divisions was scheduled to be held on July 24, which was postponed due to monsoon rains.
The Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) had rescheduled the elections scheduled for August 28 in Karachi and Hyderabad. However, now he has decided to postpone the elections in 9 districts of the province.
Balochistan government spokesperson Farah Azim Shah said that more than 10,000 cattle, 600,000 hectares of agricultural land and more than 2,500 solar tubewells have been affected by the rains.
“Committees have been formed, the deputy commissioner of each district will head the committee while members of the Frontier Works Organization (FWO) are also involved,” he said.
The Meteorological Department on Tuesday predicted more rains in the country from August 23 to August 26 due to the entry of strong monsoon winds in the southern and upper parts of Pakistan.
The Meteorological Department said in a weather advisory on Tuesday, “More rain and thundershowers are likely over Sindh, South Punjab, South and North-East Balochistan from August 23 to 26.
KP, Punjab, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are likely to experience intermittent rain/thunderstorm from 23rd (night) to 26th August.