Nearly 1,000 people have been killed in the floods since mid-June, caused by heavy monsoon rains. In the latest disaster, a major bridge was destroyed overnight, cutting off some areas from road access, in the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who was filmed dropping relief from a helicopter on flood-hit areas, tweeted that the “magnitude of the disaster is greater than estimated”. Image: Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif offered relief to flood-affected areas Image: Flooding on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan. Photo: AP “The times call for us to come together as a nation to support our people facing this disaster,” he wrote. The country’s climate change minister, Sherry Rehman, called the situation a “climate-driven humanitarian disaster of epic proportions”. Fears of flooding have forced about 180,000 people in the Charsadda district to flee their homes, officials said. Some spent the night on highways with their animals. Use Chrome browser for more accessible video player 0:48 Raging floods destroy iconic hotel in Pakistan More than 30 million people in Pakistan have been affected by historic monsoon rains and floods in recent weeks, Ms Rehman said. The army is helping to deal with the floods, while Pakistani leaders plan to set up an international relief fund. In neighboring Afghanistan, the Taliban have appealed for help after flooding in central and eastern provinces. Image: Flood damaged houses on the outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan. Photo: AP The death toll from floods this month in Afghanistan has risen to 192, disaster officials said. Thousands of animals had been killed and 1.7 million fruit trees destroyed, raising concerns about how families would feed themselves in the cooler months as the country faces an economic crisis.
