Pakistan: Unprecedented rainfall hits the country – ‘Floods are like an ocean’

To face the consequences of the worst rainfall of monsoons “for 30 years” of which 1,061 people have lost their lives and countless homes have been destroyed and vital farmlands millions of Pakistanis struggle with.

This year’s monsoon rains that began in June are “unprecedented in 30 years”, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said today on a tour of the affected areas in the north Pakistan.

“The floods (that have been caused) are like an ocean, there is water everywhere”he added as reported by the Athens News Agency.

A massive rescue operation is underway in the country, where international aid began arriving slowly today as the Indus, the country’s main river, is now at risk of overflowing.

More than 33 million people, or one in seven Pakistanis, have been affected by the floods and nearly a million homes have been destroyed or severely damaged, according to the government.

According to the latest tally by the national disaster management authority (NDMA), at least 1,061 people have lost their lives since the start of the monsoon season in June, with 28 killed in the last 24 hours.

Authorities are still trying to reach isolated villages in mountainous areas in northern Pakistan, meaning the toll could get even heavier.

“The consequences of climate change have arrived at our door”

“We are seeing an ocean of water in which entire districts have been submerged,” said Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman, who a few hours earlier had described the phenomenon as the “monster monsoon of the decade”. “The consequences of climate change they have come to our door,” he added.

This year’s floods in Pakistan can be compared to those of 2010, a year in which 2,000 people died and almost a fifth of the country was submerged in the water of the monsoon rains, which usually last from June to in September.

Pakistani authorities attribute these devastating floods to climate change, noting that Pakistan is suffering the consequences of irresponsible environmental policies in other parts of the world.