PAKISTAN issued a flood alert today after torrential rains were forecast and as rescue teams continued searching for missing people in the country’s north-west, where severe floods have killed hundreds over the past week.

The new warning covers the same southern regions as were devastated by the catastrophic 2022 floods that killed thousands.

The National Emergencies Operation Centre said expected rainfall of up to four inches over the next 24 hours could submerge highways, disrupt transport and damage power and telecommunications networks in Karachi, Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin, Mirpur Khas and Sukkur, all in the province of Sindh.

At least 41 people died in rain-related incidents nationwide in the past 24 hours, the disaster agency said, mostly in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region and in Karachi.

Since June 26, above-normal monsoon rains have claimed at least 746 lives.

In the north-western Buner district, rescuers searched for nearly 150 who went missing after floodwaters carrying boulders and mud flattened villages.

Emergency services spokesman Mohammad Suhail said the death toll there had reached 290.

Survivors recounted horrific stories of sudden floodwaters that carried boulders and prevented people from running to safer ground.

Many residents have blamed the government for not issuing an early warning.