Karachi [Pakistan], August 31 (ANI): Torrential rains have unleashed ravaging floods across Pakistan, severely disrupting transport routes and causing significant delays in the movement of goods, Dawn reported on Sunday.
According to the report, goods transporters said shipments from Karachi to Punjab, as well as consignments arriving from Punjab to Karachi, have been delayed by two to three days over the past three days.
All Pakistan Goods Transport Alliance President Nisar Hussain Jafri said carriers are facing difficulties as local administrations in various districts of Punjab have not displayed diversion signs for container trucks. “Due to this, carriers often reach points where they cannot proceed further,” he explained, urging authorities to install diversion signs to save both diesel and time.
The President of the Falahi Anjuman Wholesale Vegetable Market on the Super Highway near New Subzi Mandi, Haji Shahjehan, said onion supplies from Balochistan and potato supplies from cold storages had dropped in Karachi due to flooding, according to Dawn.
Shipments through flood-hit regions such as Sutlej, Ravi, and Chenab have been nearly suspended, worsening supply chain disruptions.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) confirmed 16 new deaths in the past two days, bringing the total death toll from flooding and rain-related incidents over the last two months to 831, The Express Tribune reported on Saturday.
This disaster follows deadly landslides in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa earlier in mid-August that killed more than 400 people. Relief efforts have been further complicated by the region’s terrain and proximity to Afghanistan.
Pakistan has faced repeated climate disasters, including its worst floods in 2022 that submerged a third of the country, with Sindh province the hardest hit.
In addition to human and infrastructural losses, the economic toll has been rising. Short-term inflation, measured by the Sensitive Price Index (SPI), climbed 3.57 percent year-on-year for the week ending August 28, driven mainly by soaring prices of perishable food items, Dawn reported, citing official figures.
This year’s floods underscore Pakistan’s growing vulnerability to climate change and the devastating impact on lives, livelihoods, and the economy. (ANI)
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