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The death toll from heavy monsoon floods and landslides in Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir continues to rise rapidly, with 307 people now confirmed dead.<\/p>\n
Most of the deaths were recorded by disaster authorities in the mountainous Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in north-west Pakistan. At least 74 homes have been damaged and a rescue helicopter crashed during operations, killing its five crew.<\/p>\n
Nine more people were killed in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, while five died in the northern Gilgit-Baltistan region, authorities said.<\/p>\n
Government forecasters said heavy rainfall was expected until 21 August in the northwest of the country, where several areas have been declared disaster zones.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
In Buner, one survivor told news agency AFP the floods arrived like “doomsday”.<\/p>\n
“I heard a loud noise as if the mountain was sliding. I rushed outside and saw the entire area shaking, like it was the end of the world,” said Azizullah.<\/p>\n
“The ground was trembling due to the force of the water, and it felt like death was staring me in the face.”<\/p>\n
The chief minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Ali Amin Gadapur, said that the M-17 helicopter crashed due to bad weather while flying to Bajaur, a region bordering Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
In Bajaur, a crowd amassed around an excavator trawling a mud-soaked hill, AFP photos showed. Funeral prayers began in a paddock nearby, with people grieving in front of several bodies covered by blankets.<\/p>\n
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has declared a day of mourning.<\/p>\n
In the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, rescuers pulled bodies from mud and rubble on Friday after a flood crashed through a Himalayan village<\/a>, killing at least 60 people and washing away dozens more.<\/p>\n Monsoon rains between June and September deliver about three-quarters of South Asia’s annual rainfall. Landslides and flooding are common and than 300 people have died in this year’s season.<\/p>\n In July, Punjab, home to nearly half of Pakistan’s 255 million people, recorded 73% more rainfall than the previous year and more deaths than in the entire previous monsoon.<\/p>\n Scientists say that climate change has made weather events more extreme and more frequent.<\/p>\n Additional reporting by Usman Zahid<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n