Pakistan death toll over 1,100 in floods disaster

Disaster management official Adnan Khan said that the toll could rise even higher since there are areas in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province that rescue workers have not been able to access.

Authorities are struggling to save more than 27,000 people still trapped by the flooding that has plagued the north-west in recent days following heavy monsoon rains.

Khan said more than 20,000 people have been rescued so far.

Another official Latifur Rehman said: "Aerial monitoring is being conducted, and it has shown that whole villages have washed away, animals have drowned and grain storages have washed away. The destruction is massive and devastating."

Almost 700 people have drowned in the Peshawar valley, which includes the districts of Nowshera and Charsada, and 115 others are still missing.

The districts of Swat and Shangla have also been hit hard and have suffered more than 400 deaths, said Mujahid Khan, the head of rescue services for the private charity Edhi Foundation.

The disaster comes as the residents of Swat are still trying to recover from a major battle between the army and the Taliban last spring that drove some two million people from their homes. About a million of those people are still displaced.

In Swat alone, the floods have destroyed more than 14,600 houses and 22 schools.

Authorities have deployed 43 military helicopters and over 100 boats to try to rescue some 27,300 people still trapped by the floods, said Mr Rehman, who added: "All efforts are being used to rescue people stuck in inaccessible areas and all possible help is being provided to affected people."

The military has deployed 30,000 army troops who have helped rescue more than 20,700 people, said Khan, the disaster management official.

But the UN has estimated that one million people nationwide have been affected by the floods, and the scale of the disaster has strained the resources of a government already grappling with a faltering economy and a brutal war against the Taliban.

The flooding has also affected the central Pakistani province of Punjab, where troops have rescued over 1,400 people.

The threat of disease loomed as well with fever, diarrhoea and skin problems in camps.

Aid charity Oxfam has warned of an impending public health "catastrophe" and launched an emergency aid effort.

Jane Cocking, Oxfam's Humanitarian Director said: "This is a flood on a scale we have not seen in decades in Pakistan and requires an aid effort of equal measure.

"People in the flood's wake were already desperately poor and what little possessions they had have been washed away.

"The extent of this crisis is only slowly emerging.

"The more villages that are reached the grimmer the picture becomes."

"She added: We are looking at a sizeable aid package that will require a great deal of public support."

The flooding was caused by record-breaking rainfalls with more monsoon rains expected.