Dozens killed in floods caused by heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan

Severe floods have killed dozens of people and left hundreds homeless in Pakistan as heavy monsoon rains battered the country, officials said Saturday.

In the southern province of Balochistan, 57 people, including women and children, were killed in floodwaters, according to Ziaullah Langove, the provincial chief minister's adviser on disaster and interior, adding that eight dams had burst due to heavy rains. Hundreds of people were left homeless after their houses collapsed due to rain and flooding, Langove said, adding that monsoon rains continued. In the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two people were killed and four others injured, including a six-year-old boy whose house collapsed due to rain, according to a district official. Heavy rains that have lashed the country in recent days have flooded large parts of Pakistan's largest city, Karachi. In neighboring Afghanistan, floods in the east and south of the country have killed 24 people, a disaster management agency spokesman said Friday. The Pakistan Navy said it was joining efforts in Balochistan to evacuate citizens and provide supplies and fresh water. In 2010, the worst floods in memory affected 20 million people in Pakistan, inundating a fifth of the country, causing billions of dollars in damage to infrastructure and destroying large areas of crops.