The death toll from more than a week of incessant rains and floods in Pakistan rose to 500 as authorities Tuesday confirmed at least 232 fatalities in Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP). The meteorological office forecasts another four-day spell of rain and snowfall after a low-pressure system entered into Pakistan on Tuesday. NWFP relief commission official Ghulam Rafiq told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that most of the fatalities took place in remote mountainous towns, including Kalam, Kaghan, Dir, Malakand and Malumjabba, where recorded minimum snowfall had been six feet since February 3. Rafiq said 173 people were injured in various rain-related incidents. Flash floods triggered by dam and embankment bursts and torrential rains affected more than 34,000 people in Pakistan's southwestern Balochistan province. Government officials in Quetta, the provincial capital, confirmed at least 250 casualties, among them 173 victims of a dam burst near Pasni, and 1,500 missing. Chief Minister Jam Muhammad Yousaf said torrential rains had damaged at least 6,000 homes and vast swathes of standing crops. Yousaf said potable water and edibles were being air-dropped to people stranded at various locations. Roads and telecommunications have also been severely hit by the rains. --mor 1430 Local Time 1130 GMT
