Pakistan struggles with flood aid

At least four people were injured on Friday when police fired tear gas and bullets into the air to disperse villagers who ransacked the mayor’s office in the flooded southwestern city of Turbat, driven by anger over a lack of relief aid.

Floods triggered by rains from Cyclone Yemyin on Tuesday began wreaking havoc in Baluchistan province, which includes the coastal town of Turbat, about 650km (400 miles) southeast of Quetta.

Khudah Bakhsh, the relief commissioner for Baluchistan, said on Saturday that the situation was now under control in Turbat and officials were trying their best to get food to victims.

“Pakistan’s army is using transport planes and helicopters to ferry aid” to the flood-hit areas in Baluchistan, he said, adding that the storm and floods had killed 17 people, affected 1.3 million, and left an unspecified number missing in the province.

The floods also killed more than two dozen people in a northwestern tribal region in Pakistan and four people in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Indian floods

Heavy rains in India disrupted transport [AP]

Heavy rains across India, meanwhile, have left thousands of Hindu pilgrims stranded in Kashmir and disrupted public transport in Mumbai. 

Off the coast of Andhra Pradesh state, at least eight fishermen from Myanmar and Thailand were feared drowned after two fishing trawlers sank in a tropical storm.

Over 50,000 people living in low lying areas of Andhra Pradesh state were shifted to safety during the storm.

In India‘s financial hub of Mumbai on the western coast, officials warned residents not to venture from their homes until the evening as monsoon rains flooded streets and shanty towns.

Local train services, the transport lifeline of the, were suspended in many areas as water flooded the tracks.

The army was on standby in some areas to help with evacuation.

In 2005, a week-long downpour had killed hundreds of people and brought the city to a complete halt.