In April, at least 143 people died due to heavy rains, lightning, landslides and electrocution in various parts of Pakistan. Thousands of houses and millions of acres of crops were also destroyed.
Among Pakistan’s four provinces and three union territories, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province experienced the highest number of deaths and house destruction during the April monsoon.
According to the province’s administrative officials, 83 people died in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in April due to heavy rains, torrential rains, landslides and lightning. 38 of them are children. Besides, more than 3,500 houses were destroyed in different districts of the province.
A similar number of people died in Balochistan province. Besides, 14 people died in various rain and rain-related disasters in Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. Moreover, at least four people lost their lives in Sindh province in road accidents during monsoon.
Pakistan Meteorological Department spokesman Zaheer Ahmed Babar told AFP that compared to other years, Pakistan received 164 percent more rain this year than in April, which is quite unusual. Blaming climate change for excess rainfall, the meteorologist said climate change is the main reason for this erratic behavior of weather.
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