Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority has issued a nationwide high alert for flash floods, urban flooding and landslides through July 24, as the country’s cumulative monsoon death toll since the season’s onset in late June rose to 53 — six more than the 47 reported on July 21 — amid continued heavy rainfall across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Punjab and Azad Kashmir (Arab News PK; Express Tribune).
Three more deaths were confirmed in Khyber district on July 22 in fresh flash flooding triggered by monsoon rains in local streams — continuing the pattern of Khyber district as the single most lethal monsoon location this season. A strong monsoon system interacting with an approaching westerly wave is expected to bring widespread heavy rainfall, including isolated very heavy downpours, across Gilgit-Baltistan, KP, Azad Kashmir, Punjab and northeastern Balochistan through the alert window.
KP: The hardest-hit province
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has recorded the highest monsoon death toll of any province this season. Deaths have been spread across Peshawar, Khyber, Mardan, Buner, Bajaur, Lower Chitral, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Tor Ghar and Kurram districts. The province’s road infrastructure has sustained recurring damage from flash flooding in hill torrents, with bridge closures affecting supply chain access to upper KP.
The Flood Forecasting Division has issued specific advisories for flash flood risk in Hazara division and northern Punjab’s hill torrent zones, with the river Indus and its tributaries expected to receive above-normal inflows through the late July window.
Balochistan: Dual-front challenge
Northeastern Balochistan remains under the heaviest-rainfall PMD advisory through July 24, covering districts including Khuzdar, Sibi, Kohlu, Dera Bugti and Naseerabad — the same districts most active in Operation Shaban’s counterterrorism campaign. NDMA is pre-positioning monsoon relief stocks in these districts while security forces conduct active operations in the same area, placing concurrent demands on the same logistics infrastructure.
NDMA has directed all provincial disaster management authorities to maintain emergency response teams at full readiness and to keep heavy machinery deployed for road clearance operations. The authority has warned that the cumulative toll is expected to rise further as the high-alert window through July 24 runs its course.
