Flash floods kill at least 50 people in Pakistan

At least 53 people are dead after flash floods struck northwestern Pakistan and the disputed Kashmir province, officials said.

The flooding in the northwest Khyber Pakhtunwa province was prompted by torrential rain that began Saturday night, disaster-management official Latif ur Rehman was quoted as saying.

Pictures coming from the flood-damaged areas show shops and homes destroyed and bridges that have been swept away in the rushing waters.

It is estimated the damage caused to property and crops is worth millions of rupees.

Yousuf Zia, a disaster management official in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, said nearly 150 homes had been destroyed and tents and blankets were being distributed to the homeless.

Zia added: “There are 30 people stranded by a landslide in the Kohistan Valley where we have sent a helicopter to rescue them.”

Forty-seven people were killed and 37 injured in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while officials in Pakistani-administered Kashmir said eight people were killed there.

Pakistan may have to brace itself for a severe summer monsoon season, that in 2015 killed 81 people.