Pakistan’s monsoon disaster widened on 2025-08-21 as authorities said at least 21 people died in rain-related incidents, pushing the nationwide toll for the week above 400.
The National Disaster Management Authority said 11 of the deaths were in Gilgit-Baltistan and 10 were in Karachi, where heavy rain triggered electrocutions and house collapses. The deaths came as floodwaters and landslides continued to affect large parts of the country, from the mountainous north to the densely populated south.
Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city and financial centre, kept schools closed as forecasters warned of more downpours until Saturday. The packet says the city’s ageing pipes and drains struggled to handle the rain, leaving neighbourhoods submerged and causing power and phone outages. Provincial officials reported damage to 40 to 50 houses in two districts, while residents were seen trying to clear murky water from their homes.
The disaster is part of a longer and far more severe monsoon season. Officials said nearly 750 people had died since the rains began this year, with more than 350 deaths in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa alone since the previous Thursday. That province in Pakistan’s northwest has been the hardest hit, with rescuers and army units searching for missing villagers after flash floods and landslides.
Authorities have deployed excavators to clear debris from rivers and drainage channels and opened relief camps to provide medical care, food and tents. Army Colonel Irfan Afridi told AFP that his unit was helping people in hard-to-reach areas. A relief worker quoted in the packet described frightened children who said they could not sleep because of the fear of another flood.
The scale of the disaster is a reminder of how differently the monsoon can strike across Pakistan. In the north, steep terrain and landslides amplify the danger. In Karachi, sheer density, weak drainage and exposed infrastructure turn ordinary rainfall into a citywide emergency. Sindh’s chief meteorologist blamed weak infrastructure for the urban flooding, a description that fits repeated complaints from residents about drains, pipes and power systems that are unable to absorb extreme weather.
The monsoon season, which runs from June to September, brings most of South Asia’s annual rainfall and is essential for agriculture and water supply. But in Pakistan, it also regularly produces deadly flooding. Authorities warned the rains could continue into mid-September, and NDMA chairman Inam Haider Malik said another rain spell was due by the end of the month.
That means the crisis is not simply about damage already done. Pakistan now faces a prolonged emergency in which local governments, rescuers and the military must keep responding while the weather remains unstable. With roads cut, homes damaged and families displaced, the immediate challenge is relief. The broader one is whether the country can reduce the toll of storms that have become more destructive in recent years.
The packet notes that Pakistan remains one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and points to the 2022 floods, when a third of the country was submerged and about 1,700 people died. This year’s monsoon is far from over, and the death toll continues to rise.
