Watch: Floods batter Pakistan; homes swamped, roads submerged

NEW DELHI: Entire villages have been wiped out and mass burials are taking place as flash floods wreak havoc across Pakistan, leaving at least 340 people dead and hundreds missing, news agency AFP reported. Officials and eyewitnesses described scenes of large-scale devastation, with homes, shops and vehicles swept away in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, the hardest-hit region.Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Prime Minister’s coordinator for KP affairs, Ikhtiar Wali Khan, warned the real toll could be far higher. “Entire villages have been wiped out. In Buner's Chagharzi area, massive destruction has taken place, while the village of Bashoni has completely disappeared from the map,” he told ARY News. Expressing fear that deaths in Dir alone could exceed 1,000, he added, “Mass burials are taking place. I have returned from Buner with a heavy heart after witnessing this disaster with my own eyes.”According to Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), torrential monsoon rains, flash floods, and landslides since June 26 have killed at least 657 people, including 171 children and 94 women, and injured 929. KP province alone has reported 390 deaths.Rescue workers continue to search for survivors, but officials admit hopes are fading. In Buner district, more than 150 people remain missing, with “10 to 12 entire villages” partially buried, according to local authorities. “The chances of those buried under the debris surviving are very slim,” said Bilal Ahmad Faizi of KP’s rescue agency.Eyewitnesses recalled the horror as floodwaters swept away everything in their path. “We saw all the houses, buildings, and vehicles being swept away like pieces of wood. When we looked down from the mountain, our home was gone,” said Suleman Khan, a schoolteacher who lost 25 relatives in Buner.Officials say the devastation is on par with past climate disasters in Pakistan. The government has declared several mountainous districts disaster-hit, while warnings of more torrential rains in the coming days raise fears of further destruction.