People pass by a damaged electric pole caused by flooding due to heavy rains near Chaman area, Pakistan.
| Photo Credit: AP

Pakistan has recorded its wettest April since 1961, with more than double the usual rainfall for the month, the national weather center said.

The country experienced days of extreme weather in April that killed scores of people and destroyed property and farmland. Experts said Pakistan witnessed heavier rains because of climate change.

Last month’s rainfall for Pakistan was a 164% increase from the usual level for April, according to a report published Friday by Pakistan’s national weather center.

The intense downpours affected the country’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the southwestern Baluchistan provinces the most.

Devastating summer floods in 2022 killed at least 1,700 people, destroyed millions of homes, wiped out swaths of farmland, and caused billions of dollars in economic losses in a matter of months.

At one point, a third of the country was underwater. Pakistani leaders and many scientists worldwide blamed climate change for the unusually early and heavy monsoon rains.

Islamabad:

Pakistan experienced its “wettest April since 1961”, receiving more than twice as much rain as usual for the month, the country’s weather agency said in a report.

April rainfall was recorded at 59.3 millimetres, “excessively above” the normal average of 22.5 millimetres, Pakistan’s metrology department said late Friday in its monthly climate report.

There were at least 144 deaths in thunderstorms and house collapses due to heavy rains in what the report said was the “wettest April since 1961”.

Pakistan is increasingly vulnerable to unpredictable weather, as well as often destructive monsoon rains that usually arrive in July.

In the summer of 2022, a third of Pakistan was submerged by unprecedented monsoon rains that displaced millions of people and cost the country $30 billion in damage and economic losses, according to a World Bank estimate.

“Climate change is a major factor that is influencing the erratic weather patterns in our region,” Zaheer Ahmad Babar, spokesperson for the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said while commenting on the report.

While much of Asia is sweltering dure to heat waves, Pakistan’s national monthly temperature for April was 23.67 degrees Celsius (74 degrees Fahrenheit) 0.87 degrees lower than the average of 24.54, the report noted.

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Residents row a boat to cross a flooded street after heavy rains in Gwadar in Balochistan province on March 2, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

At least 37 people were killed in rain-related incidents across Pakistan in the past 48 hours, authorities said.

The rains that have swept across Pakistan have led to the collapse of houses and triggered landslides that blocked roads, particularly in the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province, they said.

At least 27 people, mostly children, reportedly died in rain-related incidents in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan since Thursday night, the provincial disaster management authority said.

As many as 37 people have been injured in the torrential rains that hit ten districts, including Bajaur, Swat, Lower Dir, Malakand, Khyber, Peshawar, North, South Waziristan, and Lakki Marwat, of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in the past 48 hours, it said.

Chief Minister KPK Ali Amin Gandapur said rain-affected people would not be left alone in this critical hour and would be duly compensated against their damages.

At least five persons died in southwestern Balochistan province after floods swamped the coastal town of Gwadar, forcing authorities to use boats to evacuate people.

According to officials, heavy rainfall in Gwadar over the past two days disrupted normal life, rendering hundreds of people homeless.

Several dozens of human settlements and commercial establishments collapsed as flood water entered houses, while roads were badly affected.

Casualties and damage were also reported in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, the National Disaster Management Authority said, adding that five persons were killed in the region.

A spokesperson from the NDMA said emergency relief and heavy machinery were sent to the region to remove debris blocking highways.

The Karakoram Highway, which links Pakistan with China, was still blocked in some places due to landslides triggered by rain and snow, according to the spokesman for the northern Gilgit Baltistan region, Faizullah Faraq.

He said the snowfall was unusually heavy for this time of year.

Authorities advised tourists against travelling to the scenic north due to weather conditions. Last week, several visitors were stranded there because of heavy rains.

Pakistan this year has witnessed a delay in winter rains, which started in February instead of November. Monsoons as well as winter rains cause damage in Pakistan every year.

In 2022, unprecedented rainfall and flooding devastated many parts of Pakistan, killing more than 1,800 people, affecting around 33 million and displacing nearly eight million people. The disaster also caused billions of dollars in damage.