Pakistan Floods: Rain wreaks havoc in an already financially stricken country – Details

Heavy rains across Pakistan has caused the death toll in separate accidents to reach 1,000 since the start of monsoon season on June 14.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said that 1,527 people were also injured in separate incidents, whereas 949,858 houses were partially or fully destroyed in the calamity.

South Sindh province remained the worst-hit area during the ongoing monsoon, where 347 people were killed and 1,009 others were injured in various accidents, Xinhua news agency reported quoting the NDMA, as per IANS.

About 3,451 km of roads, 149 bridges, and 170 shops were swept away by flash floods across the country.

An estimated 719,558 livestock perished in the rains across the country.

According to Pakistan`s meteorological department, heavy rains will likely continue across the country during the next few days.

Road and railway traffic was badly disrupted due to heavy downpours which inundated several roads and railway tracks besides washing away scores of others.

According to officials, Balochistan lost land traffic with the rest of the country, whereas flight service was also suspended in the provincial capital of Quetta due to heavy rains.

Social media showed horrible sights of flood victims being swept away by gushing waters, and cattle, vehicles, and motorbikes being washed away in flash floods.

Earlier, talking to media, the country`s Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman said that her country is going through “a climate-induced humanitarian disaster” with unprecedented rains and floods.

Pakistan has so far received an average of 166 millimeters of rainfall in August, which is 241 percent above average, the minister said, adding that the country`s southern parts received 784 percent more than usual.

“Almost 30 million people are without shelter, thousands of them are displaced and have no food,” she said.

Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif asked the public to extend financial help to flood victims by generously donating to his flood relief fund. He also appealed to the international community to help the country cope with the losses and rehabilitate the victims.

During a visit to a flood-hit area of Sindh on Saturday, Shahbaz said that the government has allocated 38 billion Pakistani rupees (about 171.6 million U.S. dollars) to provide relief to flood victims, and 25,000 rupees (about 112.9 U.S. dollars) in cash will also be provided to each affected family to meet the basic needs for survival.

Meanwhile a JS Global Research report said that the unusual heavy monsoon rains and devastating flash floods are estimated to cost cash-strapped Pakistan’s economy over USD 4 billion in the current fiscal year as the calamity has badly hurt agricultural activities in Sindh and Balochistan.

“Based on our preliminary estimates, the current account deficit may increase by USD 4.4 billion (1 per cent of GDP) – assuming no counter-measures are taken, while around 30 per cent of the CPI (Consumer Price Index) basket is exposed to the threat of higher prices,” the daily reported, citing a report by JS Global Research.

The situation may force the government to make additional imports of cotton worth USD 2.6 billion, wheat worth USD 900 million and the country will lose textile exports of around USD 1 billion. This comes to around USD 4.5 billion (1.08 per cent of GDP) in the current fiscal year 2022-23.

Owing to the flash floods, the consumers are expected to face supply deficit of household groceries such as onion, tomato and chilli, the report said.

With inputs from Agencies.