At least 41 people have died, including 28 struck by lightning, due to heavy rains since Friday, authorities in Pakistan, one of the countries most threatened by extreme weather phenomena, reported on Monday.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued a warning of landslides and flash floods as weather services forecast several more days of heavy rains in most provinces across the country.
Punjab, the largest and most populous in the country of 240 million people, recorded the heaviest human losses, according to the provincial section of the NDMA. Twenty-one people were killed there between Friday and Sunday when lightning struck rural areas, often exposed, she said.
In Baluchistan, in the southwest of the country, at least eight people died, including seven struck by lightning, also reports the NDMA delegation on site.
With some areas still submerged, schools in the province will remain closed until Tuesday as a precautionary measure, she adds.
In the province of Sindh, in the coastal south, four people died in road accidents linked to heavy rainfall, local authorities say.
Heavy rains also killed eight people — including four children — in Pakistan’s northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, causing houses to collapse, according to local authorities.
Pakistan, the fifth most populous country in the world, is among the most threatened by climate change.
The monsoon, which will begin in June, is essential for replenishing the water resources of South Asia, to which it brings 70% to 80% of its annual precipitation, but it also causes tragedy and destruction each year.
In the summer of 2022, unprecedented floods submerged a third of the country, affecting more than 33 million people and killing more than 1,700 people.