Floods Pakistan

The death toll from torrential monsoon rains in northern Pakistan hit 600 Saturday as floodwaters rushed through fertile plains, destroying crops. Officials said the death toll since late Tuesday includes 300 in mountainous Pakistan-ruled Kashmir, worst hit by massive landslides. Government officials said waters of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers could enter the Punjab province town of Multan today in the worst flood to hit the district in more than 70 years.

Even before this summer's catastrophic floods, Pakistan's economy was teetering on the brink. The government's debt had ballooned to $55 billion. The tax base is anemic, and a third of the population fell below the poverty line. Now, in the aftermath of the flooding, officials face the daunting task of preventing complete fiscal collapse. Pakistan's economic bulwark, agriculture, has been ravaged by the surging waters, which submerged nearly a quarter of the country's farmland.

Using bulldozers, shovels and their bare hands, soldiers and volunteers worked desperately Wednesday to divert the raging Indus River as the death toll rose to 2,000 in Pakistan's worst flooding. The government estimated the damage at $1.5 billion and said 2 million acres of productive farmland was washed away.

Cartoonists spent the week clucking about the egg recall, zeroing in on Manhattan Mosque Madness and poking fun at political primaries. But a few marked the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by sympathizing with millions of flood-displaced Pakistanis. Pat Bagley pointed out ironic homegrown terminology. Jeff Danziger flew off the handle about sky-high military hardware. And Matt Davies' terrifying suicide life vest showed us why relief is far more than just a humanitarian matter.

Rescue workers said today that 70 bodies had been recovered from a flash flood in a remote corner of southwest Pakistan, and that about 25,000 people are homeless. Officials said at least 300 people were still missing after freak spring rains inundated the Turbat district, and that thousands were stranded on high ground and in treetops.

Flood waters roared through Pakistan's central province of Punjab, where officials Saturday said at least 26 people were killed in two days. Thousands of Pakistanis were rescued from rooftops by soldiers who were called in after 19 inches of monsoon rains flooded Lahore over a 24-hour period. Local newspapers said at least 30 people died and 100 were injured Friday in Lahore, the provincial capital, mostly by collapsing houses.

At least 103 people were killed and many injured by flash floods caused by heavy rains in northern Pakistan, officials said. Sixty-two people were killed and more than 100 were injured when a flash flood washed away a small hillside village in the northwest, officials said. Five others were killed in a nearby village. Officials in the Swat valley said 14 members of one family were killed by lightning, six other people were washed away and five died in house collapses.

Monsoon rains have inundated drought-stricken cities in northern Pakistan, causing flash floods that washed away several homes and killed 17 people, officials said. Sunday's rains caused deaths in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Peshawar and Mangora. Since the monsoon season began July 8, a total of 22 people have died in similar floods. The rains followed a drought of several months' duration that led President Zia ul-Haq to call on Muslim leaders to pray for rain.

Even before this summer's catastrophic floods, Pakistan's economy was teetering on the brink. The government's debt had ballooned to $55 billion. The tax base is anemic, and a third of the population fell below the poverty line. Now, in the aftermath of the flooding, officials face the daunting task of preventing complete fiscal collapse. Pakistan's economic bulwark, agriculture, has been ravaged by the surging waters, which submerged nearly a quarter of the country's farmland.

Here in Pakistan's southern Punjab province, the tawny waters of the Indus and Chenab rivers have swallowed up vast swaths of verdant rice paddies, sugar cane fields and mango orchards that usually feed the nation. Floodwaters have submerged the village of Basti Dopiwala, leaving farmers and their families stranded on a small patch of dry land to ponder survival without the fields that sustain them. Along the banks of the Chenab, the river gently laps the boughs of mango trees that stretch to the horizon and are a source of national pride.

The view from an open cargo door of a U.S. Marine helicopter showed what the relentless floodwater has done to this small mountain village. Near toppled electricity towers, hotel rooftops severed from their walls lay in the rushing water of the Swat River. Segments of bridges have been swept away. At one span, only concrete buttresses were left standing. As the helicopter touched down, Pakistanis with blank, tired faces, some with whatever clothes they could salvage stuffed into small plastic bags, desperately waited their turn to be taken to safety.

Here in Pakistan's southern Punjab province, the tawny waters of the Indus and Chenab rivers have swallowed up vast swaths of verdant rice paddies, sugar cane fields and mango orchards that usually feed the nation. Floodwaters have submerged the village of Basti Dopiwala, leaving farmers and their families stranded on a small patch of dry land to ponder survival without the fields that sustain them. Along the banks of the Chenab, the river gently laps the boughs of mango trees that stretch to the horizon and are a source of national pride.

At least 103 people were killed and many injured by flash floods caused by heavy rains in northern Pakistan, officials said. Sixty-two people were killed and more than 100 were injured when a flash flood washed away a small hillside village in the northwest, officials said. Five others were killed in a nearby village. Officials in the Swat valley said 14 members of one family were killed by lightning, six other people were washed away and five died in house collapses.

Rescue workers said today that 70 bodies had been recovered from a flash flood in a remote corner of southwest Pakistan, and that about 25,000 people are homeless. Officials said at least 300 people were still missing after freak spring rains inundated the Turbat district, and that thousands were stranded on high ground and in treetops.

Flood waters roared through Pakistan's central province of Punjab, where officials Saturday said at least 26 people were killed in two days. Thousands of Pakistanis were rescued from rooftops by soldiers who were called in after 19 inches of monsoon rains flooded Lahore over a 24-hour period. Local newspapers said at least 30 people died and 100 were injured Friday in Lahore, the provincial capital, mostly by collapsing houses.

Using bulldozers, shovels and their bare hands, soldiers and volunteers worked desperately Wednesday to divert the raging Indus River as the death toll rose to 2,000 in Pakistan's worst flooding. The government estimated the damage at $1.5 billion and said 2 million acres of productive farmland was washed away.

Cartoonists spent the week clucking about the egg recall, zeroing in on Manhattan Mosque Madness and poking fun at political primaries. But a few marked the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina by sympathizing with millions of flood-displaced Pakistanis. Pat Bagley pointed out ironic homegrown terminology. Jeff Danziger flew off the handle about sky-high military hardware. And Matt Davies' terrifying suicide life vest showed us why relief is far more than just a humanitarian matter.

The death toll from torrential monsoon rains in northern Pakistan hit 600 Saturday as floodwaters rushed through fertile plains, destroying crops. Officials said the death toll since late Tuesday includes 300 in mountainous Pakistan-ruled Kashmir, worst hit by massive landslides. Government officials said waters of the Jhelum and Chenab rivers could enter the Punjab province town of Multan today in the worst flood to hit the district in more than 70 years.