Heavy monsoon rains caused flash floods across Pakistan in July, with impoverished rural communities in the southwestern province of Balochistan the hardest hit. At least 77 children died and more than 500 people were injured as flooding destroyed more than 46,000 homes and over 400 miles of roadways. Over 150,000 people still need humanitarian assistance in Balochistan alone, according to Islamic Relief UK. The past month was Pakistan’s wettest in three decades, and the country is one of the world’s most vulnerable to climate change, according to German Watch. The number of record-breaking extreme precipitation events globally has significantly increased in recent decades, and scientists have documented the fingerprint of global warming in this pattern. (Climate Home News, Reuters, CNN, Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase)
