Pakistan is reeling from an unforgiving monsoon season that has claimed over 200 lives and left more than 560 injured, including 182 children. Punjab has borne the brunt with 123 deaths, followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with 40, Sindh with 21, and others scattered across Balochistan, Islamabad, and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
The deaths resulted from collapsing homes, flash floods, lightning, landslides, and electrocution. Rawalpindi was engulfed in chaos as flash floods submerged entire neighborhoods. Faisalabad also suffered heavy damage with 11 deaths in just 2 days. Infrastructure has crumbled — roads washed away in Chakwal, power supplies snapped, and communication lines destroyed. The UN warns of possible glacier lake outburst floods in the north. As the crisis unfolds, it’s a grim reminder of Pakistan’s growing climate vulnerability, just as in 2022 when floods killed over 1,700 and caused $40 billion in damage.
