Pakistan’s deadly cloudbursts

Climate Focus

By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello!

Today's newsletter focuses on massive, sudden downpours of rain known as cloudbursts that struck Pakistan and India during this monsoon season, killing hundreds of people in the flash floods and landslides they have triggered.

Click here to read a Reuters explainer on what caused the deadly floods or click here to watch a Reuters video on why these cloudbursts were so dangerous.

The monsoon has brought havoc across Pakistan,  with the death toll from flash floods that hit the mountainous northwest rising to 385. Authorities said an unspecified number of people are still missing.

There have also been heavy monsoon rains in Mumbai, India's financial capital, with some parts of the city drenched with as much as 875.1 mm of rain in the five days to August 20, the local weather department said.

The rains began in Pakistan's financial capital Karachi on Tuesday, causing widespread flooding as rainfall reached levels not seen in years in some parts of the country's biggest city –  home to more than 20 million people.

The deaths were caused by drowning, road accidents, building collapse and electrocution, said Abdul Wahid Halepoto, a provincial government spokesperson.

"I have never experienced rain like this in my life," said Anosha, 30, a creative designer, who did not want to give her full name. "Our car got stuck in the flooded road, water seeped in, and I panicked."

Anjum Nazir, a spokesperson for the provincial meteorological department, said the area around the airport received 163.5 mm (6.4 inches) of rain, the highest recorded there since 1979.

Rescue workers, police, volunteers and government agencies were helping relief efforts, the city's Mayor Murtaza Wahab told a press conference.

"We are using all our resources to clear roads and restore utilities," he said.

Wahab said the rain had overwhelmed the city's infrastructure. The city's drainage system has the capacity to manage 40 mm of rain, and anything above that would spill over into flooding, he said.

Cape Verde's Sao Vicente Island experienced fatal floods this week. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said nine people died, adding that 1,500 people had been displaced in Sao Vicente.

Torrential rains lashed the northern island in the Atlantic archipelago located off West Africa, swamping roads and sweeping away vehicles and people. Click here for a Reuters video on the aftermath of the floods.

A drone view shows a flooded street, following heavy rains that killed at least eight people, in Sao Vicente Island, Cape Verde. REUTERS/Stringer

Governments and employers should take urgent action to help protect the health of workers who are increasingly exposed to extreme heat, the United Nations said. The health risks include heatstroke, dehydration, kidney dysfunction and neurological disorders, said the World Health Organization and the World Meteorological Association.

Worker productivity drops by 2-3% for every degree above 20°C, the report said, with half of the world's population already suffering the adverse consequences of high temperatures.

This comes as firefighters around the world continue to tackle blazing wildfires amid scorching heat. A Portuguese firefighter suffered severe burns on Thursday in one of the wildfires sweeping across central and northern parts of the country when the blaze suddenly changed direction and engulfed his fire engine, the civil protection authority said.

Beijing's mountainous northern Huairou district and neighbouring Miyun district received a year's worth of rain in a single week, triggering flash floods that devastated entire villages and killed 44 people in the deadliest flood since 2012.

The floods exposed weaknesses in the rural emergency response infrastructure for Beijing, whose urban core is surrounded by several rural districts. But they also revealed how historically-dry Beijing, home to 22 million people, remains insufficiently prepared for what experts say will be an increasingly wet future. Click here for the full Reuters report.

U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams ordered a halt to new construction at "Alligator Alcatraz" and barred bringing more detainees to the migrant detention center in the Florida Everglades touted by President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Judge Williams sided with environmental groups which say the facility is endangering the Everglades and its wildlife.

Hurricane Erin, churning north in the Atlantic hundreds of miles offshore, triggered a dangerous storm surge and tropical storm conditions along North Carolina's Outer Banks and other stretches of the U.S. East Coast this week.

Parents of Camp Mystic flood victims gave emotional testimonies before Texas lawmakers about the failure of camp safety measures, lack of protocol and the painful effect on their lives. Flash flooding in July killed 27 campers and camp counselors on the Guadalupe River in central Texas. Click here for the Reuters video.

A paper in the journal Nature showed how the rapid loss of Antarctic Sea ice could be a tipping point for the global climate, causing sea level rises, changes to ocean currents and loss of marine life that are impossible to reverse.

The study gathered data from observations, ice cores, and ship logbooks to chart long-term changes in the area of sea ice, putting into context a rapid decline in recent years.

That's how much China's carbon dioxide emissions dropped in the first half of 2025 from the same period last year, helped by growing use of renewable energy to generate power, according to a study by the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

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