Monsoon rain death toll 50 since June 25

LAHORE: At least 50 people, including eight children, have been killed by floods and landslides triggered by monsoon rains that have lashed Pakistan since last month, officials said Friday.

The summer monsoon brings South Asia 70-80 percent of its annual rainfall between June and September every year. It is vital for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and food security in a region of around two billion people, but it also brings landslides and floods.

“Fifty deaths have been reported in different rain-related incidents all over the country since the start of the monsoon on June 25,” a national disaster management official said, adding that 87 people were injured during this period.

The majority of the deaths were in eastern Punjab, and were mainly due to electrocution andbuilding collapses, official data showed. In northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the bodies of eight children were recovered from a landslide in the Shangla district on Thursday, according to emergency service Rescue 1122´s spokesman Bilal Ahmed Faizi.

He said rescuers were still searching for other children trapped in the debris. Officials in Lahore said the city had received record-breaking rainfall on Wednesday, turning roads into rivers and leaving almost 35 percent without electricity and water this week.

The Meteorological Department has predicted more heavy rainfall nationwide in the days ahead and warned of potential flooding in the catchment areas of Punjab´s major rivers. The province´s disaster management authority said Friday it is working to relocate people living along the waterways. Scientists have said climate change is making seasonal rains heavier and more unpredictable.

Last summer, unprecedented monsoon rains put a third of the country under water, damaging two million homes and killing more than 1,700 people. Storms killed at least 27 people, including eight children, in the country´s northwest early last month.