PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Rescuers were continuing to search on Monday for more than 150 people still missing in northwestern Pakistan after days of torrential rain caused flash floods that have killed more than 270 people.
A senior politician has blamed local residents for the high death toll, saying people should have built their homes elsewhere.
The death toll in the mountainous district of Buner in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province reached 277 on Monday after rescuers recovered three more bodies, emergency services spokesman Mohammad Suhail said.
The search operations have been extended to remote areas to find residents swept away by floods that hit the province on Friday, according to Suhail. The army has deployed engineers and heavy machinery to clear the rubble.
Villagers have accused officials of not telling them to evacuate ahead of flooding and landslides. There was no warning broadcast from mosque loudspeakers, a traditional method for alerting emergencies in remote areas.
However, the government insists that while an early warning system was in place, the sudden downpour was so intense that the deluge struck before residents could be informed.
Provincial chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur said Sunday that many of the deaths could have been avoided had residents not built homes along waterways and riverbanks. He added that the government would encourage displaced families to relocate to safer areas, where they would be assisted in rebuilding their homes.
Pakistan has seen higher-than-normal monsoon rains since June 26, killing at least 645 people across the country, with 400 deaths in the northwest.
The National Disaster Management Authority issued an alert for further flooding after new rains began Sunday in many parts of the country.
Torrential rains triggered a flash flood that struck the Darori village, in the northwestern Swabi district, Monday, killing 15 people, a government official Awais Babar said.
He said rescuers evacuated nearly 100 people, mostly women and children, who had taken refuge on the roofs of their homes. Disaster management officials said the floods inundated streets in other districts in the northwest and in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad chaired a high-level meeting on Monday to review relief efforts in flood-hit areas of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa as well as northern Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
At the meeting, officials estimated flood-related damages to public and private property at more than 126 million rupees ($450,000), according to a government statement.
The U.N. humanitarian agency said it has mobilized groups in hard-hit areas, where damaged roads and communication lines have cut off communities. Relief agencies are providing food, water and other aid while preparing for longer-term recovery efforts.
Flooding has also hit India-administered Kashmir, where at least 67 people were killed and dozens remain missing after flash floods swept through the region during an annual Hindu pilgrimage.
U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres expressed deep sorrow on Sunday over the loss of life in Pakistan and India, while Pope Leo XIV offered condolences after praying the Angelus in Castel Gandolfo, a papal retreat near Rome.
Pakistan remains highly vulnerable to climate-related disasters. In 2022, catastrophic floods linked to climate change killed nearly 1,700 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
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Associated Press writers Ishfaq Hussain in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan, Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakkistan and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this story.
Riaz Khan, The Associated Press
