Pakistan: fears for areas cut off by floods as damage to roads hampers relief effort

There are growing fears for people living in communities in Pakistan cut off by devastating flooding caused by unusually strong monsoon rains, as damage to major roads hampers the military-led relief effort.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said almost 1m homes had been damaged since the heavy rains began in mid-June, as well as 3,451km (2,144 miles) of roads and 149 bridges. About 719,000 livestock animals have been lost.

Sharif has requested help from the international community, and on Monday the first shipments were arriving on flights from Turkey and UAE.

On Sunday Rehman said the warming climate was causing glaciers in mountainous northern regions to melt faster than normal, exacerbating the impact of the heavy rain.

He said extreme weather, which has also affected China, Europe and the US in the northern hemisphere summer, was becoming harder to predict as the warming atmosphere produced more volatile events.

Associated Press and Agence France-Presse contributed to this report