Pakistan Floods: Death Toll Rises to 277, Hundreds Still Missing

Grieving families in northern Pakistan continued to search for loved ones swept away by flash floods as the death toll climbed to 277 on Monday, officials said. More than 150 people remain missing in Buner district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, after torrential rains triggered deadly flooding late last week.

Residents accused authorities of failing to issue timely evacuation alerts. Traditionally, mosque loudspeakers are used to warn remote communities, but no such warnings were heard, villagers said. Officials maintained the rainfall was so sudden and intense that the floods struck before alerts could be issued.

The military has deployed engineers, helicopters and heavy machinery for rescue and relief, while the air force established an “air bridge” to deliver NGO-provided aid from Karachi to Peshawar. Emergency services said three more bodies were recovered Monday.

The disaster has sparked anger after provincial chief minister Ali Amin Gandapur suggested the death toll could have been lower if residents had not built homes along waterways. Survivors rejected the claim, saying ancestral homes and businesses far from streams were destroyed as new flood channels carved through villages.

Pakistan has experienced above-normal monsoon rains since June 26, killing at least 645 people nationwide, including 400 in the northwest. Fresh rains Sunday triggered another flash flood in Swabi district, killing 15. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired a high-level review of relief efforts Monday, as officials estimated damages at more than 126 million rupees ($450,000).

The UN humanitarian agency said damaged roads and communications have left many communities cut off, with aid groups scrambling to provide food, water and shelter.

Floods have also battered neighboring India-administered Kashmir, where at least 67 people died during a Hindu pilgrimage last week.

Pakistan, still haunted by the 2022 climate-fueled floods that killed nearly 1,700 people, again faces mounting devastation as heavy rains return.