The annual monsoon is essential to irrigate crops and replenish lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but each year also brings a wave of destruction. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Friday that more than 900 people have been killed this year – including 34 in the previous 24 hours – as a result of monsoon rains that began in June. Officials say this year’s floods are comparable to 2010 – the worst on record – when more than 2,000 people died and almost a fifth of the country was under water. “I have never seen such huge floods due to rains in my life,” Rahim Bakhsh Brohi, a farmer of eight years near Sukkur in the southern province of Sindh, told AFP. Like thousands of others in rural Pakistan, Brohi sought shelter beside a highway, as elevated roads are among the few dry places available. A statement on Friday from the office of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said 33 million people had been “badly affected” by the floods, while the country’s disaster agency said nearly 220,000 homes had been destroyed and half a million more severely damaged. The disaster agency for Sindh province said 800,000 hectares (2 million acres) of cultivated crops have disappeared there alone, where many farmers live hand-to-mouth and season-to-season. “My cotton crop that was sown on 50 acres of land has disappeared,” Nasrullah Mehar told AFP. “It’s a huge loss for me… What can be done?” Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman, who on Wednesday called the flooding a “disaster of an epic scale”, said the government had declared a state of emergency and appealed for international help. Tents erected for the displaced in Sindh province. Photo: Asif Hassan/AFP/Getty Images Pakistan ranks eighth in the Long-Term Global Climate Risk Index, a list compiled by environmental NGO Germanwatch of countries considered most vulnerable to extreme weather events. Earlier this year, much of Pakistan was under a drought and heat wave, with temperatures reaching 51 degrees Celsius in Jacobabad, Sindh province. The city is battling floods that have inundated homes and swept away roads and bridges. In Sukkur, about 50 miles (75 kilometers) away, residents struggled to make their way through muddy roads blocked by flood debris. “If you had come earlier, the water would have been so high,” 24-year-old student Aqeel Ahmed told AFP, raising his hand to his chest. Sharif canceled a planned trip to the UK to oversee the flood response and ordered the army to throw every resource into relief operations. “I have seen from the air and the devastation cannot be expressed in words,” he told state television after visiting Sukkur. “Cities, villages and crops are flooded with water. I don’t think this level of destruction has been done before.” A national fundraising appeal has been launched, with Pakistan’s military saying every officer will donate a month’s salary to it. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Almost all of Pakistan has suffered this year, but the worst affected areas are Balochistan and Sindh in the south and west. Both provinces have experienced the worst monsoon in six decades, recording respectively 522% and 469% more than an average rainfall this year. The heavy rain has washed away people, roads, bridges and animals. Balochistan’s rail link to other parts of Pakistan has also been disrupted after a major bridge built by the British government in 1885 collapsed in March, about 35 miles (56 km) from the provincial capital, Quetta. Quetta witnessed heavy rainfall for more than 24 hours ending on Friday at 14:00 local time. The provincial capital witnessed the worst flooding in the past 24 hours and water reached people’s homes, causing casualties and major damage to masses and properties. Relief and rescue operations are underway. Deputy Commissioner Shaihak Baloch, head of the relief and rescue operation, told the Guardian from the scene: “We are on relief and rescue operations. We have not yet assessed the casualties and damages.” “As the city of Quetta has a valley, the flood waters originate from the nearby mountains and the unprecedented rain in the city has caused flooding in the cities. We work hard to save people. “We are witnessing the worst flood in Balochistan and many parts of the province have become inaccessible due to the destruction of roads and bridges.” Images circulated on social media on Friday of swollen rivers wiping out buildings and bridges along their banks in the mountainous north. Junaid Khan, deputy commissioner of Swat district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told AFP that 14 riverside hotels had been swept away, along with two small hydroelectric power stations. In Chaman, a town on the western border bordering Afghanistan, travelers had to wade through waist-deep water to cross the border after a nearby dam burst, adding to the deluge caused by rain. Pakistan Railways said nearby Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province, was disrupted and rail services disrupted after a key bridge was damaged by flooding. Most mobile phone networks and internet services were down in the province, with the country’s telecommunications authority calling it “unprecedented”.
