Pakistan has restored 70% of electricity and reopened damaged roads in the north and northwest after flash floods killed more than 300 people.

PM

PDMA states 208 deaths in Buner alone, with DC saying 50 missing; PM directs NDMA chief to expedite rescue work in 9 affected districts.

Sudden and intense bursts of extreme rainfall are causing devastation across mountainous parts of South Asia, triggering flash floods, deadly mudflows and huge landslides that have washed out entire neighbourhoods and turned vibrant communities into heaps of mud and rubble.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif is on a visit to flood-hit Buner district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He took an aerial view of the flood situation and damages in the affected areas of Buner and Shangla. Federal Ministers Attaullah Tarar, Amir Muqam and Ahsan Iqbal are also accompanying the Prime Minister.

Samaa TV team reached the affected area ahead of many government responders to offer continuous coverage of the unfolding disaster.

Across Pakistan, monsoon rains that began in late June have been heavier than usual, killing at least 645 people. Four hundred of those deaths were in the northwest alone, where narrow valleys and river-carved gorges funnel rainwater into sudden torrents.

Flash floods triggered by intense rain have killed at least 341 people in northwest Pakistan since Friday (August 15), according to authorities. More than 200 fatalities were reported in the Buner district of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.