United News of Bangladesh

Pakistan has issued a glacial flood alert for its northwest region as heavy rains are expected to continue in the coming week, officials said Saturday. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province is experiencing heavier downpours than the same period last year, prompting warnings of flooding from glacial lake outbursts, according to Anwar Shahzad, spokesperson for the local disaster management authority. A letter issued mid-July warned that persistent high temperatures could accelerate snow and glacier melting, increasing the risk of severe weather events in vulnerable areas. Dr. Abdul Samad of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Tourism Department said rescue teams evacuated more than 500 tourists from Naran following a cloudburst Friday night that blocked the main road. Authorities deployed heavy machinery to clear debris and reopen access. In Gilgit-Baltistan, the government distributed hundreds of tents, thousands of food packets, and medicine to flood-affected communities. Death toll rises to 16 in Pakistan building collapse Spokesperson Faizullah Firaq described the situation as “severe destruction” in several areas, with damage to homes, infrastructure, crops, and businesses. Search operations are ongoing for missing persons along the Babusar Highway, where floods affected nine villages. Helicopters rescued tourists stranded at the popular Fairy Meadows site. Pakistan has received above-average rainfall during this monsoon season, raising fears of a repeat of the devastating 2022 floods that submerged one-third of the country and killed 1,737 people. So far, around 260 deaths have been reported this season, which is expected to last until mid-September. Despite being among the countries most vulnerable to climate change, Pakistan is one of the lowest greenhouse gas emitters globally.

Around 500,000 people in Sydney and its surrounds had by Thursday been told to evacuate or prepare to flee floodwaters as torrential rain lashed an extraordinarily long stretch of the Australian east coast. Rivers were rising in Australia’s most populous city, home to 5 million, with New South Wales' State Emergency Services Minister Steph Cooke warning of “treacherous weather conditions” over the next 24 hours. Read:Major floods swamp Australia's east coast, claiming 7 lives Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology warned of life-threatening flash flooding and damaging winds with peak gusts in excess of 90 kilometers (56 miles) an hour. Major flooding was expected along several rivers in and around Sydney. Dozens of suburbs were on high alert. The State Emergency Service issued evacuation orders to 200,000 residents and evacuation warnings had been sent to another 300,000. New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet urged residents to take the orders seriously. “We do believe that things will get worse before they get better," Perrottet said. Minor flood warnings were also issued for coastal communities as far as 200 kilometers (120 miles) south of Sydney. Floodwaters were also rising in Brisbane, Australia’s third-most populous city 730 kilometers (450 miles) north of Sydney, as severe thunder storms struck. Hailstones 5 to 6 centimeters (2 inches) wide pounded the town of Inglewood, 270 kilometers (170 miles) southwest of Brisbane, early Thursday, the Bureau of Meteorology said. Extraordinarily heavy rain brought flash floods to the Queensland state coast 500 kilometers (310 miles) north of the capital Brisbane last week and a south-moving low-pressure system had since brought the rain south of Sydney. The flooding has claimed 14 lives in Queensland and neighboring New South Wales since Feb. 22, when the body of a 63-year-old woman was recovered from a submerged car at Belli Park, north of Brisbane. In New South Wales, a 54-year-old man was found Friday in a submerged SUV in Matcham, 90 kilometers (50 miles) north of Sydney. Most recently, a man in his 70s was found in his flooded apartment Wednesday in Lismore, New South Wales. Four people died in the town of 28,000. Several Brisbane suburbs remain flooded after the river that snakes through the city center peaked on Monday. Read:Australia welcomes back tourists with toy koalas, Tim Tams Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Assistant Commissioner John Cawcutt said hundreds of people were calling for help in Brisbane — home to 2.6 million people — and its surrounds with heavy rain causing flash flooding. “We’ve got high winds and of course we’ve got the potential for flash flooding because of the already sodden ground out there,” Cawcutt told Nine Network television. “Because of the saturation, creeks are rising very, very quickly — drains, stormwater areas, water is bubbling up from below ground so it’s right across Brisbane,” Cawcutt added. He described the dangerous weather extending north of Brisbane and south of Sydney as an “enormous event.” Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Laura Boekel said thunderstorms brought the chance of more flooding, extending 450 kilometers (280 miles) north from Brisbane to Bundaberg during the next day or two. “This is a very dangerous and potentially life-threatening situation for southeast Queensland,” Boekel said.