Islamabad, July  25

Torrential rains and floods in Pakistan have left 36 dead and affected more than 250,000 people, disaster management officials said today.

Severe weather has caused havoc in the north and south of the country, sweeping away dozens of roads and bridges in Chitral district in the northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province while floods have inundated villages in south Punjab. Livestock and people have also been swept away in Baluchistan province and in the northeastern Kashmir region, officials said.

“According to the reports we have received until now, 26 people have been killed in Chitral, three in Punjab province and seven in Baluchistan,” Ahmed Kamal, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Authority said. “Up to 350 villages have been damaged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and 422 in Punjab. An overall population of 250,000 has been affected due to floods,” he said.

The NDMA has forecast more rain across the country in the coming days. A warning on its website said severe weather is likely to persist in the northern Gilgit Baltistan and Chitral over the next four to five days.