The rescue agency NDMA states that over 900 lives have so far been claimed in connection with this year’s monsoon rains, which began in June. In the last 24 hours alone, NDMA counts 34 dead.
The rains are necessary for the harvest and to replenish the water reserves in the country. But they also often trigger chaotic conditions even in normal years. And this year the situation is worse than usual. The only comparable year is 2010, when over 2,000 people died and a fifth of Pakistan was submerged.
“I have never seen the rains trigger such massive floods before,” says Rahim Bakhsh Brohi, a more than 80-year-old farmer in Sukkur in the province of Sindh.
Like many others of the millions affected by the flood, he is now forced to live on the country road. The asphalted and often raised roads are some of the few dry places that exist in the waterlogged landscape.
Sherry Rehman, the minister responsible for climate change, declared a state of emergency on Wednesday and appealed for international help.