Two killed as rain lashes Pakistan's largest city

Heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi left two people dead Tuesday after rainwater swept away a van in the Gadap area, the Edhi Foundation said.

Rescue teams evacuated at least 318 people overnight as floodwaters surged through low-lying neighborhoods of Karachi, Mayor Murtaza Wahab said Wednesday.

“You are all heroes,” Wahab told rescue workers, praising teams that remain on the ground as monsoon rains continue to swell rivers and dams in southern Sindh province.

Edhi Maritime Services, one of Pakistan’s largest charity groups, said its boats evacuated 12 people — including nine children — from Shehbaz Goth on the city’s outskirts.

State-run Rescue 1122 reported dozens more trapped near Sohrab Goth, a busy transport hub in central Karachi, where teams were deployed with boats and water vehicles.

Floodwaters spilling from Thado Dam in Malir district swept away a vehicle late Tuesday, but all four passengers were rescued safely under the supervision of local officials, Sindh government spokesperson Abdul Rasheed Channa said.

Authorities also broke through a section of the median wall on the M-9 Motorway, the main highway linking Karachi to the rest of the country, to divert rising waters. “The motorway has been cleared and traffic restored,” Channa said.

Karachi, home to more than 20 million people, has faced worsening urban flooding in recent years as climate change brings heavier monsoon rains to Pakistan, one of the world’s most climate-vulnerable countries.

Since the start of the monsoon season in late June, more than 900 have died in Pakistan due to torrential rains and floods, the country's National Disaster Management Authority said. More than a thousand others were injured during this period.