Three days of intense rain, 36 lightning-related deaths in Pakistan; Balochistan declares an emergency

In the last three days, lightning and torrential rains have killed at least 36 people in Pakistan, most of them farmers, according to officials, who also proclaimed a state of emergency in the southwest of the nation on Monday.

According to Arfan Kathia, a spokesperson for the provincial disaster management office, the majority of the casualties happened in eastern Punjab province when lightning hit farmers harvesting wheat and rains caused buildings to collapse. He warned that this week will likely see additional rain.

Over the weekend, rains that also battered the nation’s capital, Islamabad killed seven people in the southwestern province of Baluchistan and eight more in the northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which borders Afghanistan. Baluchistan’s authorities proclaimed a state of emergency.

In televised comments, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said that he had given the go-ahead for humanitarian supplies to be sent to areas affected by rainy seasons. He acknowledged that the rains will help Pakistan’s water reserves but expressed worry about the casualties and destruction.

According to Abdullah Janan Saiq, the Taliban’s spokesperson for the State Ministry for Natural Disaster Management, severe flooding brought on by seasonal rains in Afghanistan has resulted in 33 fatalities and 27 injuries during the last three days.

About 200 animals perished and almost 600 homes were either damaged or completely destroyed. According to him, the inundation also harmed about 85 kilometers (53 miles) of highways and significant tracts of agricultural land.

He stated that around 23,000 households had received assistance from Afghan authorities, and that 20 of the 34 regions in the nation had experienced flash floods.

An environmental specialist from Pakistan named Rafay Alam said that such significant rainfall in April is unprecedented.

He said, “We are experiencing rains today, and it is all due of climate change, which has produced major floods in 2022. Two years ago, Pakistan saw a heat wave in March and April.

Rainfall in 2022 caused rivers to flood and at one point submerged a third of Pakistan, resulting in the deaths of 1,739 people. Damage from the floods totaled $30 billion.