NPR News

PHOTOS: A third of Pakistan is under water in catastrophic floods

By Hannah Bloch,

Peter DiCampo

Published August 30, 2022 at 2:43 PM EDT

A man walks over his collapsed mud house after heavy monsoon rains in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province, on Aug. 28.

One-third of Pakistan is inundated, as floods sweep through the country this summer. The catastrophic floods, resulting from monsoon rains that began in June, are unprecedented in scale and scope. So far, they have affected some 33 million people — about 14% of Pakistan's population — causing death, damage, displacement and loss whose effects will be felt for months and years to come.

More than 1,000 people have been killed. Agriculture, a mainstay of Pakistan's economy, has been overwhelmed as fields drown. Nearly half the cotton crop has been lost in southern Sindh province.

Pakistan's Federal Minister for Climate Change Sherry Rehman has called the flooding a "crisis of unimaginable proportions." Of Sindh — which is still bracing for more floods as rivers to the north swell and burst their banks — she tweeted: "The crops are gone, lives ruined, livelihoods wiped out, roads swept away, houses destroyed or barely standing ... Where to pump/drain the water? There's water everywhere."

Pakistani authorities estimate rebuilding will cost upward of $10 billion, and are pleading for help. The U.S. announced Tuesday that it's providing $30 million for shelter, food and sanitation. China, Turkey, the European Union and the United Arab Emirates also are sending aid.

The United Nations has launched a joint appeal with Pakistan's government for $160 million. "The Pakistani people are facing a monsoon on steroids — the relentless impact of epochal levels of rain and flooding," said U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, who will visit the country on Friday. He referred to the flooding as a "climate catastrophe."

Here are images showing some of the extent of destruction and emergency response efforts.

A flooded area after heavy monsoon rains in Charsadda district in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Aug. 27. Charsadda is one of many Pakistani areas hit hard by floods in past years as well.

People stand by homes damaged by flooding after heavy rains, on the outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan, Aug. 27. Pakistani authorities say some 33 million people have been affected by this year's catastrophic floods.

Residents move their belongings from their submerged houses after heavy monsoon rainfall in the Rajanpur district of Pakistan's Punjab province on Aug. 24.

Rescue workers help evacuate people from homes hit by floods in Punjab's Rajanpur district, on Aug. 27.

After being evacuated from home, a woman and child take refuge at a school in Karachi on Aug. 25.

Displaced people sit in tents at a makeshift camp after fleeing their homes following heavy monsoon rains in Charsadda district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, on Aug. 29. The death toll from monsoon flooding in Pakistan since June has reached more than 1,000, according to the country's National Disaster Management Authority.

An army doctor checks a woman at a makeshift hospital in the flood-affected Rajanpur district in southern Punjab province, on Aug. 2.

Satellite imagery shows the Indus River near Rojhan in south-central Pakistan. The left image is from March 24, and the right image, showing heavy flooding of villages and fields, is from Aug. 28.

Displaced people wade through a flooded area in the city of Peshawar on Aug. 27.

Volunteers with the Saylani Welfare International Trust charity distribute food to displaced people in an area hit by floods in Sukkur, Sindh province, on Aug 29.

A general view of the flooded area following catastrophic floods in the Swat Valley, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, on Aug. 29. Pakistani authorities estimate the cost to rebuild from flood damage will reach $10 billion.

People gather next to a section of a road damaged by flood waters in the Madyan area of Pakistan's northern Swat Valley, on Aug. 27. Thousands of people living near flood-swollen rivers in Pakistan's north were ordered to evacuate.

Flooding in Mingora, a town in Pakistan's northern Swat Valley, follows heavy monsoon rainfall on Aug. 27.

Stranded people wade through a flooded area after heavy monsoon rainfall in Rajanpur district of Punjab province on Aug. 25.

A villager feeds his buffaloes on dry ground after floods in the Dera Ghazi Khan district of Punjab province on Aug. 29.

Security personnel load relief food bags into a government helicopter for people affected by floods in Saidu Sharif, in the Swat Valley, on Aug. 30. On Tuesday, the U.N. launched an appeal with the Pakistani government to raise $160 million in emergency aid.

Laborers unload sacks of potatoes from a truck at a local market in Lahore on Aug. 30. Agricultural fields have been waterlogged due to catastrophic floods, leading to food shortages.

Children alight from a boat as they return home after school in a flood hit area following heavy monsoon rains in Dera Ghazi Khan district in Punjab province on Aug. 29.

A man wades through a flooded area on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan, on Aug. 27.

Pakistani women wash clothes on the grounds of a government college building after fleeing their flood-hit homes, in Karachi, Aug. 29. International aid was reaching Pakistan on Monday, as the military and volunteers desperately tried to evacuate many thousands stranded by widespread flooding.

A man pours out water in a flooded area in Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan on Aug. 28.

Pedestrians and vehicles navigate flooded roads after heavy monsoon rains in Mingora, in the Swat Valley, on Aug. 27.

A man rides on his donkey cart during heavy rainfall in the flood-hit town of Dera Allah Yar in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province, on Aug. 30.