By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
At least 38 people were killed and more than 200 others were injured as heavy rains, flanked by hailstorm and gusty winds, lashed northwestern Pakistan on Sunday evening, hospital and rescue officials said.
Peshawar, the capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province, was hit the hardest by torrential rains and hailstorm, leaving 25 people dead and at least 60 injured, Dr Ghulam Subhani, an official at Lady Reading Hospital said.
Ten deaths were reported from the adjoining Charsaddah district, largely due to a roof collapse, as dozens of mud houses could not bear the brunt of the heavy downpour.
A state of emergency was declared in Peshawar's hospitals and additional paramedics were called in to deal with the growing number of injures.
Authorities fear that the death toll will rise in the coming hours as several of the injured are reported to be in critical condition.
A number of city roads and streets were inundated in ankle-to-knee deep water as gusty winds knocked down scores of billboards and snapped electric wires.
Pakistan’s meteorological department is forecasting more widespread rain in the next 24 hours.
Peshawar and its adjoining districts have a long history of rain disasters, many of them caused by poor infrastructure and lack of basic safety measures.
