Severe floods triggered by cloudbursts struck the Ghizer and Hunza districts in Gilgit-Baltistan on Tuesday, resulting in extensive destruction of infrastructure, agricultural assets, and natural resources.
In Ghizer’s Gupis Valley, heavy rainfall led to flooding in Khatam village, blocking the key Ghizer-Shandur Road. The torrent caused substantial damage to agricultural land and private property, affecting the livelihoods of local communities. Meanwhile, in upper Hunza’s Ghalapan village in Gojal, floodwaters destroyed a critical irrigation channel that supplied water to over 50,000 forest trees, according to local residents. The disruption of this irrigation system poses long-term risks to reforestation efforts and local ecology.
In response to the growing crisis, the regional government has designated 37 villages as calamity-affected. These include 12 villages in Diamer, nine in Gilgit, five in Ghizer, four each in Skardu and Shigar, two in Ghanche, and one each in Nagar and Kharmang. The declaration aims to mobilize emergency relief and facilitate rehabilitation efforts.
Preliminary estimates indicate that the floods have caused damages worth approximately Rs20 billion. Entire communities have been left devastated, with homes, roads, and public utilities severely affected. More than 500 homes have either been damaged or destroyed, along with vast tracts of farmland, road networks, and bridges. Both public and private infrastructure has suffered significant losses.
Tragically, the floods have claimed the lives of 10 individuals, most of whom were tourists visiting the region. An additional four people have been injured, and between 10 and 15 tourists are still missing. Search and rescue operations are ongoing in the affected zones to locate the missing and provide aid to those stranded or injured.
The regional administration has launched emergency response measures and rehabilitation projects in the impacted areas. Relief teams have been deployed to provide essential supplies and assess the full extent of the damage. Restoration of road connectivity and irrigation systems is a priority to prevent further economic disruption.
Since June, Pakistan has been experiencing a wave of climate-induced disasters, including intense monsoon rains, cloudbursts, and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs). These events have not only caused the loss of human life but also severely strained the country’s disaster management capacity. Gilgit-Baltistan, due to its mountainous terrain and vulnerability to changing weather patterns, has emerged as one of the worst-hit regions.
The increasing frequency of such extreme weather incidents underscores the urgent need for improved climate resilience planning, infrastructure development, and disaster preparedness in high-risk areas. Environmental experts have warned that without swift adaptation measures, such occurrences are likely to intensify in the future.
