Glacial floods alert issued for northwest Pakistan with more heavy rain forecast
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan on Saturday warned of glacial flooding in the northwest with more rain forecast for the area in the coming week.
Downpours are heavier in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province than the same period last year, prompting weather advisories and alerts for flooding from glacial lake outbursts, said Anwar Shahzad, a spokesperson for the local disaster management authority.
A letter from the authority sent out mid-July said “persistent high temperatures may accelerate snow and glacier melt and subsequent weather events” in vulnerable parts of the region.
Dr. Abdul Samad, from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Department, said rescue teams evacuated more than 500 holidaymakers from Naran after a cloudburst overnight Friday caused a road closure. Authorities deployed heavy machinery to remove debris and restore access.
In the neighboring Gilgit-Baltistan region, the government said it had distributed hundreds of tents, thousands of food packets, and medicine to flood-affected communities.
Spokesperson Faizullah Firaq said Saturday there was “severe destruction” in some areas and damage to houses, infrastructure, crops, and businesses.
Search operations were underway to find missing people on the Babusar Highway, where flooding struck nine villages. Helicopters rescued tourists stuck in the popular spot of Fairy Meadows, he added.
Pakistan has received above-average rainfall this monsoon season, raising concerns of a repeat of the devastating 2022 floods that submerged a third of the country and killed 1,737 people. Some 260 have died across Pakistan so far this season, which runs through to mid-September.
Pakistan is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change, but one of the lowest contributors to greenhouse gas emissions.