Flash flooding caused a mountain of mud to roar down on dozens of homes in Northwest Pakistan, killing at least 37 people and injuring 58 others, police said. Many others were still missing, they said. As torrential rains pounded large parts of northern and central Pakistan, the government issued urgent appeals to people living close to rivers and canals to leave their homes. The worst hit area was Mansehra district, where pounding rains sent rivers of mud burying homes in a tiny village called Old Dada, some 110 km north of the capital Islamabad, police officials said.
Rescue workers said that they expect the death toll to rise even further, according to state-run television. Many of the wounded are in critical condition.
Bodies were being dug out from beneath mountains of mud. The raging current dragged other bodies downstream. Several bodies have been pulled out of the swollen rivers, said rescue workers.
Details were sporadic with many telephone lines to the Mansehra district out of order because of the rain, said government officials and police.
By midday on Monday, 515 mm of rain had fallen in islamabad --the highest in 100 years of recorded history, a meteroelogical department of Pakistan official Azmat Hayyat said.
Several mud homes in the poorest areas of Islamabad also collapsed. Rescue workers dug several small children from the rubble. There were no reports of serious injury. >br>
In the hardest hit areas in northwest Pakistan the army has been deployed to assist rescue workers.
Bureau Report