COAS Bajwa visits flood-hit areas of DI Khan, lauds resilience of local residents

Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited Thursday flood-affected areas of Dera Ismail Khan and lauded the resilience of local residents in the face of devastating floods across, the military's media wing said.

"While interacting with flood victims, COAS consoled them over their loss," a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said.

COAS Bajwa also directed "FC South KP troops to ensure timely assistance and help to the brave people of KP in this hour of need."

COAS Bajwa visits flood-hit areas of Swat, meets people rescued by army: ISPR

Earlier, the European Space Agency said that rainfall 10 times heavier than usual caused Pakistan’s devastating floods, as it released satellite images of a vast lake created by the overflowing Indus river.

Rains, described by UN chief Antonio Guterres as a “monsoon on steroids” have claimed hundreds of lives since June, unleashing powerful floods that have washed away swathes of vital crops and damaged or destroyed more than a million homes.

Data from the EU’s Copernicus satellite has been used to map the scale of the deluge from space to help the rescue efforts, the ESA said in a statement.

While it is too early to quantify the contribution of global warming in the floods, scientists say the rains are broadly consistent with expectations that climate change will make the Indian monsoon wetter.

A recent study, based on climate models, predicted that exceptionally wet monsoons in the Indian subcontinent would become six times more likely during the 21st century, even if humanity rachets down carbon emissions.