Tens of millions battle floods in Pakistan as death toll surpasses 1,000

Officials said this year's monsoon has affected more than 33 million people

International aid began arriving and a relief operation was under way on Monday as tens of millions of Pakistanis struggled to cope with monsoon floods that have killed more than 1,061 people.

The death toll could rise as hundreds of villages in the mountainous north have been cut off by flood-swollen rivers that have washed roads and bridges away.

More than 33 million people — or one in seven Pakistanis — have been affected by the floods, and about a million homes have been damaged, officials said.

The annual monsoon is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but it can also bring destruction.

The UAE began operating an air bridge for humanitarian aid to the country, where a state of emergency has been declared and armed forces mobilised to help with relief efforts.

Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman called it “the monster monsoon of the decade”.

“Many districts are beginning to look like they’re part of the ocean,” the official told German broadcaster DW News.

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  A man clears mud off his property in the aftermath of floods in Charsadda District, Pakistan. EPA

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  A man wades through floodwater carrying his granddaughter on his back in Charsadda. Reuters

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  People affected by floods wait to receive food in Charsadda District. EPA

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  A man holding a baby wades through a flooded area in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. EPA

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  People wade through water in Sanghar District. EPA

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  A displaced boy peeks through a hole in a plastic shelter after fleeing his flood-hit home on the outskirts of Peshawar. AP Photo

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  A displaced boy who fled his flood-hit home carries food rations as he wades through water. AP Photo

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  Personnel from the Pakistan Navy rescue people from the floods in the Dadu district of Farid Abad village in Sindh province. EPA

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  A man carries his sick daughter along a road damaged by flood waters following heavy monsoon rains in the Madian area of Pakistan's northern Swat Valley. AFP

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  People forced from their homes gather at a road damaged by flood waters following monsoon rains in the Madian area of Pakistan's northern Swat Valley. AFP

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  Tents set along a road provide temporary shelter during monsoon rains in Sukkur, Sindh province. AFP

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  A man is given food by the Pakistan Army during relief operations in the Rajanpur district of Punjab. AP

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  People are moved away from a flood-hit area of the Rajanpur district of Punjab by soliders. AP

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  Troops distribute food and other essentials to the displaced people of flood-hit Rajanpur district in Punjab. AP

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  People affected by floods triggered by heavy rains survey their damaged houses on the outskirts of Quetta, Balochistan province, Pakistan. EPA

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  Thousands of people living near flood-swollen rivers in Pakistan's north have been ordered to leave their homes as the death toll from devastating monsoon rains approaches 1,000. AFP

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  A woman goes through her belongings next to the ruins of her house after heavy monsoon rains in Rajanpur district, Punjab province. AFP

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  Soldiers distribute food to people affected by floods, near a makeshift camp in Rajanpur. AFP

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  Rescue workers evacuate people from flood-hit homes in the district. AFP

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  A doctor checks a child at a makeshift medical camp in Sanghar District, Sindh Province. EPA

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  A villager uses cots to save usable items salvaged from his flood-hit home, in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province. AP

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  People take refuge by a highway after fleeing from their homes in Charsadda district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. AFP

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  The heavy rains are expected to continue, bringing more hardship for those displaced. AFP

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  Partially submerged houses in Charsadda district. AFP

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  Volunteers from the Chhipa Welfare Association carry goods for distribution to flood victims following heavy rains, in Karachi. EPA

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  A damaged bridge in Quetta. EPA

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  A partially damaged homestead in Jaffarabad. AP

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  Pakistan's government has appealed for relief assistance from the international community. AP

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  A damaged road in Quetta. AFP

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  A satellite dish is used to move children across a flooded area in Jaffarabad district. AFP

“Our helicopter sorties are not finding dry land to drop rations.”

The navy is being deployed for the first time, she said.

This year's floods are comparable to 2010, the worst on record, when more than 2,000 people died and nearly a fifth of the country was under water.

Rains have caused damage worth more than $10 billion, Bloomberg reported, citing local newspaper The News International.

Critical infrastructure failing

Near Sukkur, a city in southern Sindh province and home to a colonial-era flood barrage on the Indus River which is vital to prevent further catastrophe, one farmer lamented the devastation of his rice fields.

The Lloyd Barrage, built in 1932, is capable of discharging 1.4 million cubic metres of water a second through 19 steel gates. The tourist site is a main bridge across the Indus River.

“It has completed 90 years, whereas it had a 50-year guarantee,” Syed Khursheed Shah, the country's Minister for Water Resources told AFP.

“So we are 40 years beyond its guaranteed life.”

A series of canals that travel through farms have been neglected, making them incapable of handling the large volumes of water.

“Silt has been piling up and it is not being removed,” the minister said.

He said the canal has not been dredged in 12 years.

With the build-up, less water can flow through the canals, causing a backlog and more chance of flooding at the Indus.

Millions of acres of rich farmland have been flooded by weeks of non-stop rain, but now the Indus is threatening to burst its banks as water runs downstream from tributaries in the north.

“Our crop spanned over 5,000 acres on which the best quality rice was sowed and is eaten by you and us,” Khalil Ahmed, 70, told AFP. “All that is finished.”

Much of Sindh is now a landscape of water, frustrating a military-led relief operation.

“There are no landing strips or approaches available … our pilots find it difficult to land,” one senior officer told AFP.

Ghulam Rasool uses a handpump next to his flood-damaged mud house on the outskirts of Sukkur, Sindh province. AFP

Army helicopters struggled to pluck people to safety in the north, where steep hills and valleys make flying dangerous.

Many rivers in the area — a picturesque tourist destination — have burst their banks, demolishing scores of buildings, including a 150-room hotel that crumbled in a raging torrent.

The flooding could not have come at a worse time for Pakistan, where the economy is in free fall.

Monsoon season

Monsoon season in the Asian Summer can occur any time between June and September, bringing to South Asia 70 to 80 per cent of its annual rainfall.

It is vital for agriculture and therefore important for millions of farmers in a food-insecure region, but also brings destruction every year with landslides and floods.

Poorly maintained infrastructure exacerbates the issue.

While Pakistan has seen an overwhelming amount of rain, eastern and north-eastern India have this year had the lowest amount of July rainfall in more than a century.