Flood toll in Pakistan on the rise

PASNI, Pakistan – Troops in helicopters hauled badly needed relief supplies to flood-swamped villages in southwestern Pakistan on Sunday as the nationwide death toll from a week of heavy rain and snow topped 360.

Hungry survivors, their homes and livestock swept away when a dam collapsed three days ago, huddled on high ground in the worst-hit province of Baluchistan, where at least 1,000 people still are missing.

Officials said a second smaller dam collapsed in the province Sunday, killing seven people, while scores more casualties from avalanches and landslides were reported in northwestern Pakistan and in the Himalayan region of Kashmir.

About 4,000 troops – supported by helicopters, coast guard boats and C-130 transport planes – hauled food, medicine and tents to Pasni, close to where the 490-foot-long Shadikor Dam burst Thursday, sweeping peo-ple into the Arabian Sea.

The Red Crescent, the branch of the Red Cross that operates in Muslim countries, sent tents, blankets, tarpaulins and 40 tons of food.

The torrent of water left only empty land in its wake. Downstream from the dam, nine small villages – home to 800 to 900 people – were swept away.

Regional authorities said at least 200 people died in the flooding across Baluchistan, Pakistan’s biggest and poorest province.

“The water started flowing very fast and with a big noise,” said Mohammed Rafiq, a 30-year-old shep-herd who moved his family to higher land as floodwaters rose. “The water washed away our homes, our goats and cattle.”

The water level has dropped, but huge tracts of coastal land remain submerged.

Elsewhere, weeklong rain – the heaviest in years – and avalanches in the mountains claimed scores of lives.