ISLAMABAD – Recent weeks have seen heavy rainfall in Pakistan, leading to devastating floods that have claimed hundreds of lives. A recent study suggests that these events were exacerbated by human-induced climate change.
Conducted by World Weather Attribution, a network of scientists investigating global warming’s effects on extreme weather, the study indicates that rainfall from June 24 to July 23 was 10% to 15% more intense due to climate change, causing numerous collapses of buildings in both urban and rural parts of Pakistan.
Pakistan’s government has reported at least 300 deaths and 1,600 damaged houses due to the floods, heavy rain and other weather since June 26.
Saqib Hassan, a 50-year-old businessman from northern Pakistan, recounted that on July 22, flooding destroyed his home and those of 18 relatives, alongside their dairy farms. He noted that his livestock was swept away, leading to significant financial losses, estimated at 100 million rupees ($360,000) for his family.
Their only warning to evacuate in the small town of Sarwarabad came through last-minute mosque announcements, urging them to seek higher ground.
“We are now without a home. Our residences have been demolished. The government’s aid only comprises food rations valued at 50,000 rupees ($177) and seven tents, where we have been residing for two weeks,” Hassan shared with The Associated Press by phone.
Heavy rains cause series of disasters
Higher temperatures and severe rainfall, exacerbated by global warming, have hastened recent extreme weather events more rapidly than what climate specialists anticipated, explained Jakob Steiner, a climate scientist in Islamabad, who did not participate in the WWA study.
“In the last few weeks, we have been scrambling to look at the number of events, not just in Pakistan, but in the South Asian region that have baffled us,” he said.
“Many events we projected to happen in 2050 have happened in 2025, as temperatures this summer, yet again, have been far above the average,” said Steiner, a geoscientist with the University of Graz, Austria, who studies water resources and associated risks in mountain regions.
Heavy monsoon rains have resulted in a series of disasters that have battered South Asia, especially the Himalayan mountains, which span across five countries, in the last few months.
Overflowing glacial lakes resulted in flooding that washed away a key bridge connecting Nepal and China, along with several hydropower dams in July. Earlier this week, a village in northern India was hit by floods and landslides, killing at least four people and leaving hundreds missing.
The authors of the WWA study, which was released early Thursday, said that the rainfall they analyzed in Pakistan shows that climate change is making floods more dangerous. Climate scientists have found that a warmer atmosphere holds more moisture, which can make rain more intense.
“Every tenth of a degree of warming will lead to heavier monsoon rainfall, highlighting why a rapid transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy is so urgent,” said Mariam Zachariah, a researcher at the Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London and lead author of the WWA study.
Extreme weather’s impact on Pakistan
Even though Pakistan is responsible for less than 1% of planet-heating gases in the atmosphere, research shows that it incurs an outsized amount of damage from extreme weather. Pakistan witnessed its most devastating monsoon season in 2022, with floods that killed more than 1,700 people and caused an estimated $40 billion in damage.
According to the United Nations, global funds set up to deal with loss and damages because of climate change or funds set up to adapt to climate change are falling well short of the amounts needed to help countries like Pakistan deal with climate impacts. The U.N. warns that its loss and damage fund only holds a fraction of what’s needed to address yearly economic damage related to human-caused climate change.
Similarly, U.N. reports state that developed countries such as the United States and European nations, which are responsible for the largest chunk of planet-heating gases in the atmosphere, are providing far less than what’s needed in adaptation financing.
These funds could help improve housing and infrastructure in areas vulnerable to flooding.
The WWA report says much of Pakistan’s fast-growing urban population lives in makeshift homes, often in flood-prone areas. The collapsing of homes was the leading cause of the 300 deaths cited in the report, responsible for more than half.
“Half of Pakistan’s urban population lives in fragile settlements where floods collapse homes and cost lives,” said Maja Vahlberg of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre, who also helped author the WWA report, in a press statement. “Building flood-resilient houses and avoiding construction in flood zones will help reduce the impacts of heavy monsoon rain.”
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Arasu reported from Bengaluru, India.
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Follow Sibi Arasu on X at @sibi123
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