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Hundreds killed in Pakistan’s worst flash floods in decades

Flash floods caused by abnormally heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 549 people in Pakistan over the past month, a government agency said.

In addition to the fatalities, the flooding has damaged more than 46,200 houses, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said on Friday.

“We’re doing our best to provide for extensive relief and rehabilitation of flood victims,” Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said during visit to stricken areas.

Relocating families

Government agencies and the army have set up aid and relief camps in flood hit regions and were working to help relocate families and provide food and medicine.

Remote communities in the impoverished southwestern province of Balochistan are among the worst hit.

The past month was the wettest in three decades, with 133 percent more rain than the average for the past 30 years, the NDMA said.

Balochistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan, received 305 percent more rain than the annual average, the disaster agency said.

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