Aug. 31, 2022 at 10:23 am EDT
Ratodero, a town in Pakistan’s Sindh province about 300 miles north of Karachi, was hit hard by recent floods, with homes destroyed on August 29. (Video: Portal)Comment on this story
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“A monsoon on steroids.”
Officials are struggling to put into words the extent of the floods that have devastated much of Pakistan. More than 1,000 people have died and another ten million have been affected by months of continuous rain.
The floods has turned into a disaster in recent weeks as monsoon season rains overwhelmed low-lying areas near the Indus. Water spilled from its banks into the surrounding plains, destroying infrastructure and homes.
Maxar Technologies released satellite imagery of the city of Rojhan, Punjab state, before and during the floods, showing entire communities cut off.
As Pakistan grapples with the loss of homes and farmland and the risk of disease, many fear the country’s humanitarian catastrophe is only just beginning.
190 percent more precipitation than normal
Exceptional rains began across Pakistan in June, following months of historic heat waves and little rainfall.
The ground was dry and loose due to the record heat, causing landslides across the country. Melting glaciers triggered floods.
The rain increased even more when the monsoon season started in July, which became the wettest since 1961, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department.
Pakistan had eight rounds of widespread rain during this monsoon season, about double the normal. The country experienced 190 percent more rainfall than average from early June to late August. As the Indus swelled from constant rainfall and glaciers melted, low-lying areas were devastated.
The last two weeks have brought even more rainfall to the southern region of Pakistan.
Estimated 15-day rainfall
Source: NASA Global Precipitation
measurement mission
Estimated 15-day rainfall
Source: NASA Global Precipitation
measurement mission
Estimated 15-day rainfall
Source: NASA
Global Precipitation
measurement mission
Satellite imagery from August 28-30 showed visible areas of flooding.
Balochistan and Sindh provinces fell 410 percent and 466 percent above average from early June through Aug. 29, respectively. The ensuing floods have devastated cities and turned lives upside down.
Floods detected in Pakistan
Satellite images on August 28th and 30th.
Source: NASA Terra/MODIS, Facebook
and Columbia University-CIESIN
Floods in Pakistan detected by satellite
Pictures on August 28th and 30th.
Pakistan
population
density
shown
Source: NASA Terra/MODIS, Facebook
and Columbia University-CIESIN
Floods detected in Pakistan
Satellite images on August 28th and 30th
Pakistan
population
density
shown
Source: NASA Terra/MODIS,
Facebook and Colombia
University-CIESIN
“It has been raining in my village for the past two months,” said Zahid Ali Jalalani, a 35-year-old farmer in Khairpur district, Sindh, on a phone call to The Washington Post. After a canal burst last week, his village was flooded overnight, with water levels rising to 10 feet in some areas. On the other side of the south, families waded through floodwaters in search of dry land.
People waded through chest-high flood waters in Mingora, Pakistan, on August 24 as floods wreaked havoc in Swat district. (Video: Sungin Khan via Storyful)
“That was the scariest night of my life,” he said. “My house is well built, but at some point it seemed like the walls were shaking.”
More than 1,160 people died
The extreme flooding has killed more than 1,160 people, including many children, according to the Pakistani government.
He recalled Jalalani emerging from his home to the sound of calls for help. He said he spent more than six hours rescuing people trapped by the water that had risen over their shoulders. He knew a man who drowned.
“He was under a pile of rubble and we couldn’t pull him out,” Jalalani said. “It was so dark.”
Hundreds of people from his village are in a makeshift camp, while nearly 500,000 people live in refugee camps across the country.
Thousands more who have fled their homes in Sindh are still struggling to find help. Many hiked for days in search of shelter, pitching tents along the province’s main road. Others have moved into abandoned buildings.
At a high school in the city of Jamshoro, hundreds of people crowded the classrooms and surrounding gardens. Most had nothing but the clothes they fled in.
Ghulam Qadir, 17, fled his village two weeks ago. He and five of his family members have been sleeping in a classroom for over a week.
“We left home when the water was almost up to my neck,” Qadir said. His house had started to collapse. Two rooms collapsed, another began to collapse. “I was worried about my family, especially the kids,” he said.
The government estimates that 33 million people have been affected by the floods, about 13 percent of the population.
Pakistanis in Balochistan were left homeless on August 28 after heavy rains and floods devastated the region. (Video: Associated Press)
The World Health Organization said on Wednesday that 888 health facilities had been damaged, even when Experts warned that the disaster could lead to an increase in disease and malnutrition. Standing water can serve as a breeding ground for mosquitoes that transmit dengue fever and malaria.
Vector-borne disease researcher Erum Khan said dengue cases have already increased since the floods. Her lab at Aga Khan University in Karachi reported more than 200 cases in August, compared to fewer than 30 in April. “The actual numbers are likely much higher,” Khan added.
The destruction has rendered parts of the country inoperable. Officials said Tuesday that 1 million homes and 2,100 miles of road — about the distance between DC and Salt Lake City — were destroyed. Bridges and dams were also destroyed. Pakistan’s Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said Monday more than $10 billion would be needed for reconstruction.
Thousands of acres of farmland are under water and aid workers are struggling to reach remote communities.
“What lies ahead is food shortages, affecting villages and towns alike,” Khan said.
The agricultural economy in Sindh “has completely collapsed,” Iqbal said at a news conference on Tuesday. “Almost half of our cotton crop has been destroyed,” he said. Rice was also damaged and 700,000 livestock were lost across the country. He called the floods a “climate catastrophe” and said Pakistan, one of the world’s lowest emitters of carbon dioxide per capita, is suffering the worst impacts of climate change.
“Someone is paying the price in the developing world,” Iqbal said.
Villagers in Dera Murad Jamali, Pakistan, faced hardship on August 28 as most of their belongings and sources of income were washed away in recent floods. (Video: Associated Press)
Ruby Mellen, Kasha Patel and Laris Karklis reported from Washington. Susannah George reported from Kabul. Haq Nawaz Khan reported from Jamshoro, Pakistan. Shaiq Hussain reported from Islamabad. Gerry Shih reported from Delhi.