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Deadly flooding devastates South Asia

Aug 20, 2025, 6:48am EDT
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People wade through a flooded road after the monsoon rain in Karachi, Pakistan.
Imran Ali/Reuters

Almost 400 people have died in Pakistan after flash floods brought destruction throughout the country’s north.

The heavier than usual monsoon season has also battered Mumbai, leaving swaths of the Indian megalopolis under water.

Huge rainfall has wreaked havoc across much of the northern hemisphere this summer, including floods in central Texas that led to one of the state’s worst natural disasters, as well as record downpours in Mexico City.

Experts fear that global warming — which leads to increased evaporation and thus more frequent and intense downpours — will make once-extraordinary climatic events more common. The Pakistan floods, in particular, highlight “why a rapid transition from fossil fuels… is so urgent,” an expert told the Associated Press.

A map showing countries by their climate vulnerability scores
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