Floods in Buner turn wedding preparations into tragedy, claiming 24 lives

BUNER: In a heartbreaking turn of events, floods in Buner have claimed the lives of 24 family members and relatives, including Noor Muhammad’s mother, siblings, and children. The disaster struck just two days before his wedding, leaving the 25-year-old in mourning instead of celebrating his marriage.

Muhammad had spoken to his mother hours before the catastrophic flood hit the mountainous Qadir Nagar village in Buner district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. “She was so happy, I can’t even explain,” he recalled as he stood by the rubble of his family’s 36-room home, which was washed away by the floodwaters. The area had been badly affected by the monsoon rains, and the village had accounted for more than 200 of the nearly 400 deaths in the northwest since August 15.

“The flood came, a huge flood came, it swept away everything – home, mother, sister, brother, my uncle, my grandfather, and children,” he said, describing the devastation. Noor Muhammad, who works as a laborer in Malaysia, had arrived in Islamabad on August 15 to join in the wedding preparations but found himself attending 24 funerals instead.

The flash floods, triggered by an intense monsoon system and cloudbursts, have affected not just Buner but other parts of Pakistan as well. The storms have brought widespread destruction, and climate change is believed to be a factor in the increasing severity of such weather events. Muhammad Zeb, another Buner resident, described the chaos, saying, “It was complete chaos, a massive disaster.”

Rescue operations are ongoing, and the death toll from the monsoon rains has reached 776, with over 25,000 people rescued. Authorities have warned of more storms ahead, as two additional monsoon spells are expected until September 10. Despite the immense loss, Noor Muhammad expressed his resignation, stating, “What else can we say? It’s God’s will.”