Pakistan monsoon flooding death toll rises to 1,061

The death toll from monsoon flooding in Pakistan since June has reached 1,061, according to figures released Monday by the country’s National Disaster Management Authority.

It said 28 people had died in the previous 24 hours, but authorities were still trying to reach cut-off villages in the mountainous north.

The annual monsoon is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but each year it also brings a wave of destruction.

Officials say this year’s monsoon flooding has affected more than 33 million people — one in seven Pakistanis — destroying or badly damaging nearly a million homes.

The NDMA said more than two million acres of cultivated crops have been wiped out, 3,457 kilometres (about 2,200 miles) of roads destroyed, and 157 bridges washed away.