Pakistan floods destroy major bridge, displacing 180,000 people
Some 180,000 people fled their homes in Pakistan on Saturday after ongoing floods destroyed a major bridge in the country's northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
Many of the displaced people spent "the night on highways with their livestock," Reuters reports.
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif warned Friday of "unprecedented damage and devastation" after declaring a national emergency the previous day. Pakistan's military has also deployed to assist in disaster relief, with army chief Gen. Qamar Javed Bajwa promising on Saturday not to "spare any effort to assist them in this difficult time."
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The flooding, which began in mid-June due to heavy rainfall, has killed over 900 people in Pakistan and nearly 200 in neighboring Afghanistan. Videos published by The Washington Post show cars floating away and people wading through shoulder-deep water with children on their backs.
Pakistani authorities say some 30 million people have been affected by the floods, which the country's climate change minister described as a "climate-induced humanitarian disaster of epic proportions."
