KHAFLU, Pakistan – A landslide triggered by torrential monsoon rains swept away cars in mountainous northern Pakistan, killing at least three people, with more vehicles buried under the debris, officials said Tuesday.
In eastern China’s Shandong province, flash floods killed two people and left 10 missing on Tuesday, state media said.
Flash floods, collapsed buildings and electrocutions have killed 221 people since the monsoon season arrived in late June with heavier rains that usual.
More than eight vehicles were swept away on Monday when heavy rains triggered a landslide on a highway in Diamer district, Gilgit-Baltistan region, a senior police officer told AFP.
“Three dead bodies have been recovered and more than 15 are still missing,” said Abdul Hameed, the district police officer.
Floods in the area have blocked major highways, damaged communication signals, 50 houses, four bridges, a hotel and a school.
The death toll includes “104 children and 40 women”, while more than 500 others have been injured, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Agency said Tuesday.
Up to 364 millimeters of rain lashed parts of the provincial capital Jinan between midnight and 5 am, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The downpours triggered flash floods in two villages in the town of Dawangzhuang, “destroying or damaging” 19 homes, CCTV said.
“At present, all-out efforts are being made to search for and recover the missing persons,” the broadcaster said.
It added that authorities would “carry out post-disaster rescue and follow-up work in an orderly manner”. AFP
Natural disasters are common in China, particularly in summer when some regions experience heavy rainfall while others bake in searing heat waves.
China is the world’s biggest emitter of the greenhouse gases that scientists generally agree cause climate change and make extreme weather more frequent and intense.
But it is also a global renewable energy powerhouse that aims to make its massive economy carbon-neutral by 2060.
Six people were killed and more than 80,000 evacuated due to floods in southern Guizhou province in June, according to state media.
A landslide on a highway in Sichuan province this month also killed five people after it swept several cars down a mountainside. AFP
