Pakistan floods affect 300,000

Heavy monsoon rains have triggered floods affecting more than 300,000 people across Pakistan in the last two weeks and killed 108 others, disaster management officials said Sunday. "The rains affected 334,764 people, killed at least 108 people and wounded 104," a senior National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) official told AFP. The rains have hit 770 villages and completely destroyed 2,427 houses across Pakistan, he said. The NDMA has established 44 relief camps in flood-hit areas to accommodate affected people, the official added. Pakistan has suffered from monsoon floods for the last three years and has been criticised for not doing more to mitigate against the dangers posed by seasonal rains washing away homes and farmland. Streets in all major cities including Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad suffer intermittent flooding due to downpours, damaging roads and private homes. In 2010, the worst floods in the country's history killed almost 1,800 people and affected 21 million.