Floods kill over 400 in Pak

According to initial reports received from all districts,408 people have so far been killed since Wednesday,Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told reporters in Peshawar.

We fear the death toll will rise once the water recedes. We are facing the worst disaster in the history of our province.

The towns of Nowshera and Charsadda and Swat valley were the worst hit where gushing flood waters washed away houses and hotels around the banks of swollen rivers.

Half of Nowshera is already under water, said Imran Khan,whose ancestral home is beside the river in the garrison town,about 100 km from Islamabad.

The military hospital,and many other buildings in the cantonment area,are also half under water8230; Some trucks of military rescue convoys are stuck on the road, he said.

The Pakistan Army,which is leading the rescue and relief activity,said it had evacuated about 14,250 people from the flooded regions so far.

The monsoon season in Pakistan lasts until the first week of September. Weather officials are forecasting continued heavy rains for the next 10 days.