Flash Floods Devastate Northern Pakistan, Hundreds Dead

Rescuers carry children away from their flood-devastated village in the Buner region in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province.

Intense rainfall in Pakistan’s mountainous regions has caused massive destruction, sweeping away entire villages and leaving communities in shock.

On 15 August, the district of Buner in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province experienced a rare weather anomaly, where glacier melt combined with intense monsoon rains triggered floods that buried villages under mud and rock.

“I’ll never forget what we saw as we crested the last hill—no life, no homes, no trees—just grey sludge and massive boulders,” recalled Amjad Ali, a 31-year-old rescuer from Al-Khidmat Foundation, the charitable arm of Jamaat-e-Islami. Ali was among the first to reach Bishonai village, 90 percent of which had been washed away.

It took Ali and his team of 15 volunteers, including two paramedics, four hours to reach the once-forested village, now buried under mud and debris.

Since June, northern valleys across Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir, and KP have faced repeated climate disasters. Between 26 June and 19 August, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reported over 695 deaths—53 percent from flash floods, 31 percent from house collapses, and nearly 8 percent from drowning.

“The weather is on a rampage—it’s not going to improve,” warned Sahibzad Khan, Director General of the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD). He explained that delayed snowfall until March left little time for snow accumulation. Rising temperatures from April, spiking by 7–9°C in August, worsened glacier instability.

Khan emphasised that the Buner disaster was not a typical “cloudburst,” which requires over 100 mm of rain in an hour, but rather a sign of glacial disintegration. “Huge boulders falling from the mountains suggest ancient glaciers are breaking apart,” he said.

Scientists warn that warming of the “Third Pole”—the mountain region west and south of the Tibetan Plateau—could lead to the collapse of ice towers that sustain the Indus Basin.

“People were in shock, but from what little we learned, it had been raining gently all through Thursday night (14 August). Then around 8:30 am Friday (15 August), a ferocious torrent swept through, destroying everything in its path,” said Ali, speaking from Sawari Bazar, 30 minutes from Bishonai.

Every survivor told the same story—it struck so suddenly that no one had time to escape.

“I pulled a man from the sludge with a broken leg and one eye missing,” said Ali. “He was the sole survivor of 14 family members. Their three-storey home was gone.”

Ali, a five-year veteran of rescue work, said the emotional toll was overwhelming. With more than 100 volunteers, his team buried over 200 men, women, and children—some headless, others with missing limbs. Over 470 missing villagers were presumed dead.

The official NDMA death toll stands at 695 nationwide: 425 in KP, 164 in Punjab, 32 in Gilgit-Baltistan, 29 in Sindh, 22 in Balochistan, 15 in Kashmir, and 8 in Islamabad. Nearly 958 injuries have been recorded.

The floods damaged 451 km of roads, 152 bridges, and 2,707 homes, including 833 completely destroyed. Floods also killed 1,023 livestock, with KP the hardest hit. The provincial government has allocated PKR 800 million in relief for affected districts and an additional PKR 500 million for Buner.

Like KP, Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) is reeling from widespread destruction.

“Not a single part of G-B has been spared,” said Khadim Hussain, head of the region’s Environmental Protection Agency. He reported damage to farmland, homes, hotels, and riverbank hamlets, with several villages cut off due to collapsed bridges.

The situation worsened when the Karakoram Highway—G-B’s main link to the rest of Pakistan—was repeatedly blocked by floods and glacier collapses, stranding travellers for hours. Gilgit, the regional capital, has had no electricity for three days as hydropower stations were destroyed. Communication networks are also down.

Hamid Mir, a climate coordinator with WWF Pakistan, explained that warmer air holds more moisture. “With every 1°C rise in temperature, air holds 7 percent more water vapour, increasing rainfall intensity.” Rapid glacier melt adds humidity, fuelling convective clouds responsible for short, intense downpours.

Experts also blame deforestation. “If we can end the timber mafia stripping our mountain slopes, there’s still hope,” said PMD’s Khan.

Babajan, president of the Awami Workers Party’s G-B chapter, accused illegal timber traders of operating with “tacit support” from authorities. He urged climate action—promoting electric vehicles, reducing fossil fuel use, and halting destructive construction.

He also criticised excessive mining and mountain blasting. “These are finite resources—we must take only what we truly need.”

Mir highlighted Buner’s transformation: once famous for its stream fish, it now lacks clean drinking water due to marble industry expansion. “It’s a stark example of how ruthless development destroys once-pristine landscapes,” he said.

Experts warn that Pakistan’s weak disaster management and absence of local governance have intensified the crisis.

“We urgently need elected local governments, which were dismantled two decades ago,” said Safiullah Baig, a member of Progressive Gilgit Baltistan, a popular social media page raising issues of climate change, governance, and land rights.

He accused bureaucrats of exploiting disasters for profit: “As always, floods will give them a perfect opportunity to appeal for funds. The aid rarely reaches those who need it most.”

Climate resilience expert Sobia Kapadia argued that failures in governance and planning, not just climate change, drive vulnerability. “From weak management to persistent corruption, lapses are intensifying fragility,” she said.

EPA-GB’s Hussain agreed, stressing that illegally built structures along rivers must be removed. “The solution goes beyond technical fixes—Pakistan needs systemic change, policy reform, and locally led adaptation rooted in indigenous knowledge.”

Babajan summed up: “This crisis is man-made and fixable. We must focus on prevention—finding local solutions before the damage occurs. We must draw on the wisdom of our elders to build resilience.”