Pakistan restores electricity and reopens roads in areas where floods killed over 300

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan reopened damaged roads in the north and northwest and restored 70% of the region’s electricity after flash floods there killed more than 300 people, officials said Tuesday, as a downpour continued to lash several flood-hit regions.

Information Minister Attaullah Tarar told a news conference that engineers were working to fully restore the electricity system that was knocked out by flooding last week.

Most roads have been cleared, facilitating the supply of food and other essential items to flood-affected areas, he said.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif ordered authorities to accelerate recovery efforts in Buner, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where torrential rains and a cloudburst Friday killed at least 280 people, Tarar said.

Monsoon rains triggered floods that killed more than 700 people nationwide since June 26, the National Disaster Management Authority reported. Tarar said more than 25,000 people have been evacuated.

Army spokesman Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif said military doctors are treating survivors and engineers are repairing damaged infrastructure. Troops using helicopters have also delivered food and supplies to remote villages cut off by floods and landslides.

Last week’s flooding in Buner was among the worst since the rains began late last month. Search teams aided by army sniffer dogs are still combing the district for about 150 missing people, rescue official Mohammad Suhail said.

Buner residents accused authorities of failing to issue timely evacuation warnings, and community elders said no alerts were broadcast from mosque loudspeakers, a traditional warning system in remote areas. Officials said the cloudburst struck so suddenly that warnings could not be delivered.

Also Tuesday, torrential monsoon rains lashed the country, including the southern port city of Karachi, killing at least 10 people in rain-related incidents, according to local emergency services. Torrential rain also flooded streets and disrupting normal life, it said.

Despite the government’s claims of preparedness, people could be seen wading through chest-high water in some submerged city roads. Much of Karachi’s road network lay under water within hours of the first showers of this month.

Every year, many cities in Pakistan struggle to cope with the annual monsoon deluge, drawing criticism about poor planning. The monsoon season runs from July through September.

Authorities have warned of a possible repeat of Pakistan’s catastrophic 2022 floods, which killed nearly 1,700 people and were blamed on climate change.