Death toll from Pakistan monsoon rains, floods tops ۱۰۰

Punjab’s monsoon season usually lasts until September, and more rain is expected this week.

Heavy rains and flooding in Pakistan have killed at least ۱۰۷ people, injured ۳۴۴ others and damaged hundreds of homes since the start of the monsoon season in June, authorities said, warning of more downpours later this week.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) told local media on Sunday that the death toll from rain-related incidents since late June has reached ۱۰۷.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded the highest number of deaths, ۵۵, followed by Punjab with ۳۶.

More than half of the deaths were caused by house or roof collapses, the NDMA said.

In Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab and Pakistan’s second-largest city, authorities have set up at least ۱۷ flood relief camps to house evacuated residents, the Dawn newspaper reported.

An unnamed senior official at the Punjab Irrigation Department told Dawn on Saturday that the situation was “very alarming”, with “a vast area of around ۴۰۰sq km [۱۵۴sq miles]” now under water across the Lahore and Gujranwala divisions of Punjab.

The official said, “The current situation resembles an inland sea because of the vast expanse of floodwater.”

Punjab’s Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif said on X that emergency responders had been deployed across the province and that teams were actively working to drain floodwaters.

The Pakistan Meteorological Department said on Sunday that no “flood-generating activity is expected” until Tuesday, though “a fresh wet spell is likely to commence” from Wednesday in upper catchments of all big rivers in Islamabad, upper Punjab, Pakistan-administered Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Gilgit-Baltistan.

It added that Punjab’s Ravi River was currently flowing at a “medium flood level” and that “most major rivers are flowing at normal to low flood levels”.

Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Punjab, said authorities were urging residents to avoid low-lying areas.

“So far the monsoon has brought pounding rain. Cloudbursts have brought hundreds of millimetres of rain in a short span, inundating the provincial capital [Lahore] and other major cities of Punjab,” Hyder said. “All eyes now will be on the rivers.”

Pakistan’s disorganised urban planning, a result of rapid rural-to-urban migration, has led to sprawling slums that are particularly vulnerable to flooding.

In ۲۰۲۵, heavy flooding in Pakistan killed ۱,۰۳۷ people, displaced two million people, and killed millions of livestock, as well as causing significant damage to standing crops.

“This is just the middle of the monsoon season, which is likely to continue until September,” Hyder said. “That will keep everybody on their toes.”