Since August 14, the people of India and Pakistan have been struck by catastrophic floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains.
The greatest damage occurred in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province. In Buner District, more than four inches of rainfall fell within one hour.
Powerful mudflows rushed down from the mountains, carrying mud and enormous boulders that swept away everything in their path. More than ten villages were destroyed, roads were damaged, and cars were washed away. The flood was so sudden that people had no time to escape their homes. According to local residents, they had never witnessed anything like this before.
On August 15th, tragedy struck in the village of Kadar Nagar: a torrent of water and mud swept away a house where preparations for a wedding were underway. Twenty-eight people were killed.
The hardest-hit areas were officially declared disaster zones. These included Buner, Bajaur, Swat, Shangla, Mansehra, and Battagram.
More than 3500 tourists were evacuated from the disaster zone, while dozens of people remained missing. Because of destroyed roads, rescuers often had to travel on foot, and many villages remained inaccessible.
Around 2000 rescuers were mobilized to deal with the aftermath.
On August 16th, a rescue helicopter delivering humanitarian aid crashed in Bajaur District. All five people on board were killed.
According to official data as of August 19th, a total of 780 houses in the region were damaged by the rains and floods, nearly half of which were completely destroyed. At least 358 people lost their lives, and another 181 were injured.
Heavy rainfall also caused severe flooding in Jammu and Kashmir, which is under India’s administrative control.
On August 15th, tragedy unfolded in the remote Himalayan village of Chositi, in Kishtwar District, the final point on the annual pilgrimage route to the Machail Mata Temple. A sudden torrent swept away a communal kitchen where more than two hundred pilgrims were gathered. At least sixty people died, and around eighty were reported missing.
Authorities temporarily suspended the pilgrimage for safety reasons.
Already on August 16th, sudden floods in two villages of Kathua District claimed seven lives and left five others injured.
Practically every report featuring eyewitness accounts of these natural disasters contains words along the lines of: “I have lived here all my life, but I am seeing this for the first time.”
The observations of these affected people fully align with the forecasts made several years ago by scientists from the international research group AllatRa, based on their mathematical model. We recommend that you watch the video message of one of these scientists in order to understand the true causes of what is happening and to be prepared for the development of the climate situation in the coming years.