Death toll from 6 weeks of monsoon rains jumps to 154 in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The death toll from nearly six weeks of monsoon rains and floods across Pakistan has risen to 154, officials said Thursday, as downpours continued in much of the country, inundating some villages.

More than 1,500 homes have been damaged since July 1, when the monsoon rains began, the National Disaster Management Authority said. Orchards in remote areas of the southwestern Baluchistan province were damaged, and rains flooded many streets in the eastern city of Lahore.

The Pakistan-administered portion of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir has also been battered by rains, causing landslides.

Many of the 154 deaths occurred in the eastern Punjab and northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces, according to the disaster agency and provincial authorities.

Currently, more than 2,000 people are in relief camps in rain-affected areas in the southern Sindh province, officials said.