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Dozen people die due to heavy rains in Pakistan-administered Kashmir

20 March 2016 00:27 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A dozen people have lost their lives due to heavy rains accompanied by flash floods in parts of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Zaheer-ud-din Qureshi, a local disaster management official, said Saturday the victims include women and children.

Heavy downpours on Friday night caused devastation across large parts of the region.

The official said landslides and collapsed roofs were blamed for most of the fatalities in the mostly mountainous region.

He added that more than 40 houses were damaged in different areas including Muzaffarabad, the capital of the Pakistan-administered territory. Muzaffarabad, Bagh, Abbaspur, Haweli and Kotli were among the worst hit areas.

Poorly-built homes across rural areas in the region are most vulnerable to collapse during heavy spring rains.

In recent years, severe weather conditions have killed hundreds of people and destroyed huge tracts of prime farmland across Pakistan.

In March, Pakistani authorities said more than 40 people were killed in flash floods caused by days of torrential rains in the country.

The National Disaster Management Authority said in a statement on March 14 that 75 houses were damaged in different parts of the southwestern province of Balochistan, and the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa near the border with Afghanistan.