Pakistan floods: Misery mounts for millions

Army helicopters flew sorties over cut-off areas in Pakistan's mountainous north yesterday and rescue parties fanned out across waterlogged plains in the south as misery mounted for millions trapped by the worst floods in the country's history.

Unusually heavy monsoon rains have triggered floods that have submerged a third of the country and killed more than 1,100 people, including 380 children. The United Nations has appealed for $160 million to help with what it termed as an "unprecedented climate catastrophe".

The focus for now, however, is reaching tens of thousands still stranded on hills and in valleys in the north, as well as remote villages in the south and west.

"We appeal to the government to help end our miseries at the soonest," said Mohammad Safar, 38, outside his submerged home yesterday in Shikarpur in the southeastern province of Sindh.

"The water must be drained out from here immediately so we can go back to our homes."

There is so much water however that there is nowhere for it to drain. Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman described the country as "like a fully soaked sponge", incapable of absorbing any more rain.

International aid agencies struggling to help hundreds of thousands of people have asked for the easing of curbs on imports of food from Pakistan's old rival India.