Authorities in Pakistan justify their handling of the flood crisis as deaths reach 274 people.
Pakistan is currently grappling with the aftermath of severe monsoon floods, with authorities warning of more deluges and possible landslides between now and Tuesday. The country, which produces less than 1% of planet-warming emissions, faces heatwaves, heavy rains, glacial outburst floods, and now cloudbursts, according to weather expert Khalid Khan.
The deadly monsoon rains have been particularly intense this year, with studies showing that human-caused climate change made the 2025 rains about 15% more intense. This increase in intensity has led to more frequent and severe flooding, especially in vulnerable and urbanized areas.
In the mountainous district of Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, at least 274 people have lost their lives, and many are still missing. Villagers in Buner are still missing, and search efforts are focused on areas where homes were flattened by torrents of water. In the deadliest incident, 24 people from one family died in the village of Qadar Nagar when floodwaters swept through their home on the eve of a wedding. Four of the family members are still missing.
The floodwaters have swept through homes, leaving survivors with nothing, as stated by a disaster management official. In the India-administered Kashmir, flash floods in two villages in the Kathua district killed seven people. At least 60 people were killed, and some 150 injured in the flash floods in India-administered Kashmir.
Pakistan's early warning system uses satellite imagery and meteorological data to send alerts to local authorities. Early warnings could have potentially saved lives and allowed residents to move to safer places, according to a survivor. Lt. Gen. Inam Haider, chairman of the National Disaster Management Authority in Pakistan, stated that Pakistan is experiencing shifting weather patterns due to climate change.
Emergency services in Buner have been working tirelessly to reopen damaged roads. By Sunday, more than half the damaged roads in the district had reopened. Crews are still using heavy machinery to remove the rubble of collapsed homes.
Climate change has significantly increased the frequency and severity of extreme weather events in Pakistan during the monsoon season, particularly by intensifying heavy rainfall and flooding. Recent studies show that human-caused climate change made the deadly monsoon rains in 2025 about 15% more intense, with some climate models indicating increases of 40-80% in rainfall intensity due to warming, currently about 1.3°C above preindustrial levels. These intensified rains have led to frequent and severe floods mostly affecting northern Pakistan, including the provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Rescuers in Chositi village are still looking for dozens of missing people after the area was hit by flash floods last week. The floodwaters in Buner have lashed Pakistan since June 26 and killed more than 600. The warming atmosphere absorbs more moisture, which amplifies rainfall when the monsoon system arrives. This has resulted in more common and destructive floods occurring approximately every five years, rather than being rare.
[1] Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 2021: Climate Change 2021: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Masson-Delmotte, V., Zhai, P., Pirani, A., Connors, S. L., Péan, C., Berger, S., Caud, N., Chen, Y., Goldfarb, L., Gomis, M. I., Huang, M., Leitzell, K., Lonnoy, E., Matthews, J. B. R., Maycock, T. K., Waterfield, T., Yelekçi, O., Yu, R., and Zhou, B., eds.] [in press].
[2] IPCC, 2018: Global Warming of 1.5°C. An IPCC Special Report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development, and efforts to eradicate poverty [Masson-Delmotte, V., P. Zhai, H.-O. Pörtner, D. Roberts, J. Skea, P.R. Shukla, A. Pirani, W. Moufouma-Okia, C. Péan, R. Pidcock, S. Connors, J.B. R. Matthews, Y. Chen, X. Zhou, M.I. Gomis, E. Lonnoy, T. Maycock, M. Tignor, and T. Waterfield (eds.)]. Geneva, Switzerland, 2018.
[3] United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 2022. Pakistan: Monsoon floods 2022. [online] Available at: https://reliefweb.int/report/pakistan/pakistan-monsoon-floods-2022 [Accessed 1 September 2022].
[4] The Guardian, 2022. Pakistan floods: thousands of people still missing as death toll passes 1,000. [online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/aug/30/pakistan-floods-thousands-of-people-still-missing-as-death-toll-passes-1000 [Accessed 1 September 2022].
[5] Al Jazeera, 2022. Pakistan floods: Climate change 'intensifying' monsoon rains, experts warn. [online] Available at: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/23/pakistan-floods-climate-change-intensifying-monsoon-rains-experts-warn [Accessed 1 September 2022].
- The recent flood disaster in Pakistan, exacerbated by climate change, has prompted discussions in environmental science and general news about the urgent need for political action against climate-change.
- The impact of these floods on the population and environment is further highlighted in crime-and-justice news as survivors struggle with the destruction of their homes and loss of possessions.
- The severity of these monsoon floods, which killed over 600 people and left many more missing, has led to calls for improved early warning systems and disaster management strategies in environmental-science and climate-change discussions.
- In reaction to the devastating effects of climate change on Pakistan's weather, various international organizations like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are working on new studies and reports to better understand its implications and propose potential solutions (e.g., [1], [2]).
