Monsoon Rains Flood Pakistan; At Least 7 Dead, Dozens Missing
May 06, 2011
LAHORE, Pakistan -- Torrential rain flooded Pakistan's eastern capital, leaving at least seven people dead and dozens missing and presumed drowned. News reports today said as many as 30 people have died and more than 100 were injured. Authorities, however, put the death toll at seven, including two young children. Nearly 20 inches of rain has fallen since Friday, according to meteorologists in the federal capital of Islamabad. Many residents had just minutes to salvage what they could before wading through rising, waist-deep water to higher ground. Some shuttled belongings in makeshift plastic rafts. ``We had half an hour to remove paintings and valuables to storage areas, but the carpets and everything are gone,'' said Diehl Mattie, principal of Lahore's National College of Arts. Flooding has left thousands homeless. The slums of Lahore, filled with corrugated tin, brick and dried mud homes, were hit hardest. Telephone service and electricity to most of Lahore's eight million people was out today. The seasonal monsoon rain that has battered much of Pakistan for several weeks was expected to continue for another two weeks.
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