This time last year: Catastrophic monsoon impacts Pakistan

This time last year Pakistan felt the impact of one of the worst monsoons in recent history, a year on and millions are still in need of aid.

In the north of Pakistan, thousands of people were ordered to evacuate their homes as the death toll from devastating monsoon rains approached 1,000. Today, that figure stands at more than 1,700.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a picturesque province of rugged mountains and valleys, saw several rivers burst their banks, destroying scores of buildings, including a 150-room hotel.

Every year, the monsoon irrigates crops and replenishes lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but it also causes destruction.

Officials say last year’s monsoon flooding affected more than 33 million people. This is equal to one in seven Pakistanis. The monsoon also destroyed or badly damaged nearly a million homes.

At this time a year ago, authorities ordered thousands of residents in threatened areas to evacuate their homes as rivers had still not reached maximum capacity.

The floods are comparable to 2010, until 2022 the worst year on record, when over 2,000 people died and nearly a fifth of the country was underwater.

More than 2 million acres of crops were destroyed, over 1,900 miles of roads have been damaged, and 149 bridges were washed away since the monsoon began in June.

This week, the United Nations stated that more than 4 million children were still in need of aid due to the continued fall out of the flooding in the country.