Excessively Heavy Summer Rains, Floods Devastate Pakistan

Monsoons have hit Pakistan. They've caused lots of flooding. More than 1,000 people have died since June due to the floods. Thousands have been forced from their homes. Leaders of the South Asian nation have asked the global community for help to deal with the storms.

At least 119 died on Sunday alone because of floods, officials said.

“I haven't seen destruction of this scale. I find it very difficult to put into words …,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari told Reuters. He added many crops have been wiped out.  

Pakistan already had been dealing with an economic crisis. The country’s government is in a lot of debt. High inflation has sent prices for goods soaring. Its currency has gone down in value.

Summer floods are normal for Pakistan, but one local official told the BBC these floods were “of biblical proportions.” Thousands of mud homes are underwater. Treetops can only be seen above the waters, for many miles. Thatched roofs peek above the water where levels are lower, the BBC reported.

The International Monetary Fund will decide this week whether to release $1.2 billion as part of a bailout program that Pakistan entered into in 2019. Officials say some estimates have placed the storms’ economic impact at $4 billion so far.

Bhutto Zadari told Reuters that the county must look at ways to fight future storms of this size.