QUETTA/PESHAWAR/MULTAN: 36 more people have been declared dead in different rain and flood accidents across the country over in past 24 hours, raising the total to 1162, according to official stats are out late on Tuesday.
Belonging latest fatalities, 19 people came from Punjab, whose southern regions were hit by severe floods caused heavy rains over in past two weeks.
Nine people, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), were killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
The rest of the deaths were reported in Sindh and Balochistan, authorities said.
BUT total of 3554 people were injured in all four provinces, northern Gilgit-Baltistan region and Azad Jammu and Kashmir from mid-June.
Approximately 33.4 million people in According to the NDMA, 72 districts across the country have been affected by the ongoing rains and flooding.
Constant rains and raging floods already destroyed big chunk of infrastructure and farmland across the country, including dozens of thousands of houses, roads and bridges and swept away almost a million animals.
Up to 200,000 people stuck in remote valleys after ruthless floods – with helicopters are the only way of reaching them.
Unprecedented rain in the Swat valley turned the rivers into raging torrents, washing away roads and bridges, cutting off tourists and residents of nearby cities, even when the water receded.
Extreme floods continue this morning in Malakand division of #Matchmaker, #Pakistan rice.twitter.com/JBPDZDcqmT
— Intel Consortium (@INTELPSF) August 26, 2022
Army and government helicopter missions saved hundreds of tourists and locals panicked – some urgently needed medical attention help.
“Feels like I have second life,” said Yasmine Akram, a diabetic tourist. who was airlifted to Saydu Sharif Airfield from Kalam valley with she is 12-year-old daughter as well as husband.
The traffic police officer watched in desperation like a hotel they fled in middle of the night was swallowed up by the river Swat, carrying away with this is young boy.
“I’ve witnessed it all with my own eyes,” she said. “I haven’t slept since.
Her husband, stunned with fatigue, said he ran out of medication for the condition of his kidneys after Kalam was cut off.
“When I arrived here, it was like receives new life,” said Muhammad Akram, official with Punjab government.
Their two adult sons were left behind, with priority is given to patients women as well as children.
The stunning Swat Valley, known as “Pakistan Switzerland”, is a popular tourist destination because of its majestic mountains, lakes and rivers.
Deep conservative area came to fame in mid-2000s when he saw rise of a powerful local branch of Pakistani Taliban.
In 2012 after military operations to oust the Taliban, then-schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai – now a Nobel Peace Prize winner – was shot dead and left for dead militants in Special Forces main city of Mingora.
“THE CHALLENGES ARE HUGE”
Junaid Khan, Deputy Commissioner of Swat told AFP that the affected tourists made up majority of evacuation.
Government officials and doctors were airlifted into the valleys to identify the most in need of save.
The locals want to stay behind if food and medical supplies are guaranteed, Khan said.
thousands of food aid packages have already were delivered – some fell from back of helicopter when crowds of people achievement for airplane made landing is impossible.
“We have reached areas where no other organizations and aid groups have been able to reach,” Khan said at the Saidu Sharifa airfield, where some of the rescue missions are in agreement.
Locals rush to create makeshift landing pads for helicopters — with in first established on the area around the mosque in Mankiel.
It may be days before the roads leading the mountains and valleys are being repaired.
” challenges huge, but the hope is very high in this is region who has seen the worst of terrorism, militancy, earthquakes and floods,” Khan said.
Helicopter provided by the province government chief minister — No built for save missions – helped to pull out more than 350 people from the villages, bringing up to double recommended number of passengers.
Army helicopters have collected hundreds more.
– Starring AFP