Pakistan: 22 die from heavy rains, flooding

A Pakistani girl sits in her house flooded by heavy rains in Nowshera, near Peshawar, Pakistan on Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012. Local meteorologists fear heavy rains fall may cause flooding in some areas of northwest Pakistan. AP/Mohammad Sajjad

PESHAWAR, Pakistan–Pakistani officials say heavy monsoon rains that triggered flooding in the country’s north have caused at least 22 deaths.

Sardar Nawaz Khan, a disaster management official, says at least 13 people died on Wednesday in the northeast in Pakistan-held Kashmir. Nine of the dead belonged to three families who were buried alive when the roofs of their houses caved in.

Another official, Adnan Khan, says nine people died Wednesday in northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. Six of the deaths occurred in Mansehra district, and three in Nowshera district.

Both officials spoke to The Associated Press on Thursday.

Pakistan suffered the worst flooding in its 65-year history in 2010. Floodwaters inundated one-fifth of the country, an area larger than England, and killed over 1,700 people. More than 20 million people were affected.