As monsoon rains begin lashing parts of Pakistan earlier than usual, the country once again finds itself ill-prepared to cope with the seasonal deluge.
In mountainous regions like Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and parts of Balochistan, flash floods and landslides threaten to isolate entire communities and destroy critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, in urban centres such as Karachi and Rawalpindi, the lack of proper drainage and incomplete flood mitigation efforts have made even moderate rainfall a serious hazard. Despite repeated warnings and past disasters—including the catastrophic 2022 floods—systemic weaknesses remain deeply entrenched. The situation calls for urgent, coordinated action across all levels of government to manage the immediate threat and rethink long-term climate resilience.
Pakistan is once again entering the monsoon on the back foot. Already this season, torrential cloudbursts have swept away roads, triggered fatal landslides in the north, and turned city streets into knee deep rivers. Dozens of people have lost their lives, underscoring how quickly “normal” rain can become a life threatening event when drainage is inadequate and hillsides are stripped of vegetation. With the Meteorological Department predicting an unusually long and intense monsoon, communities from the Himalayan foothills down to the Indus delta face weeks of heightened danger.
Pakistan routinely ranks among the ten most climate vulnerable nations. Rising sea surface temperatures in the Arabian Sea are turbo charging monsoon systems, while Himalayan glaciers—already melting at record pace—release more water into rivers just as seasonal downpours peak. The result is a pattern of erratic extremes: crippling drought in one district, catastrophic flash floods in the next. The summer of 2022 provided a stark benchmark: one third of the country underwater, 1,700 lives lost, two million homes damaged, and economic losses in excess of US $30 billion. Three years later, many of the structural weaknesses exposed in that disaster remain unaddressed.
Major cities illustrate the problem vividly. Karachi’s storm water drains are choked with plastic waste; Lahore has paved over natural waterways in pursuit of rapid real estate growth; Peshawar’s expansion has crept into floodplains once reserved as safety buffers. As a result, every cloudburst overwhelms already fragile infrastructure, forcing vulnerable residents—often informal settlement dwellers—to wade through sewage laced water or find makeshift shelter on higher ground.
What must change
1. Climate resilient infrastructure: Raising river embankments, restoring wetlands that act as natural sponges, and climate proofing critical roads and bridges should top spending priorities.
2. Early warning systems: More automatic weather stations, community level sirens, and mobile alerts translated into local languages can buy precious evacuation time.
3. Land use enforcement: Halting construction in flood channels and enforcing building codes—especially for hillside developments—will reduce future casualty counts.
4. Community preparedness: Local disaster response teams, stocked relief warehouses, and first aid training can close the gap between an emergency and the arrival of professional rescuers.
Without sustained political will and predictable funding, each monsoon will continue to expose the same fault lines—costing lives, shredding livelihoods, and draining the national budget. The 2025 rains are only the latest warning shot; whether Pakistan heeds it will determine how often the headlines repeat themselves in the years ahead.
In Pakistan’s mountain belts—from the high valleys of Gilgit Baltistan and the Hindu Kush of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to the arid uplands of northern Balochistan—torrential cloudbursts can trigger sudden, wall like flash floods and landslides that scour entire hillsides. A single debris flow can wipe out bridges, bury hydropower intakes, and leave whole valleys cut off for weeks, jeopardising food supplies, medical care, and mobile phone links. Field engineers note that many rural roads in these regions still lack proper retaining walls and culverts, so even moderate rainfall can shear them away.
Down on the plains, the hazards shift from vertical slopes to clogged concrete. Karachi’s storm water network—a maze of natural nullahs, ageing pipes, and hastily laid out “escape channels”—is choking on plastic bags, construction rubble, and untreated sewage. As a result, one neighbourhood may drain swiftly while an adjacent street turns into a waist deep canal. Rawalpindi faces a parallel dilemma: the long promised de silting and widening of Lai Nullah is only partially complete, leaving thousands of downstream residents dependent on sandbags and prayer when a cloudburst hits the Margalla Hills.
With the Meteorological Department forecasting an early and more volatile monsoon, all tiers of government and the National Disaster Management Authority must treat the rains as a crisis in waiting rather than an annual inconvenience.
Looking beyond this monsoon, Pakistan’s planners must pivot from piecemeal repairs to genuine climate resilience. That includes enforcing land use rules to keep houses out of river channels, restoring upstream forests and wetlands that absorb runoff, adopting climate smart crops suited to erratic rainfall, and expanding water storage capacity to buffer both floods and droughts. Such investments are not optional add ons; they are the foundation of a stable economy and safer communities in a warming world.
The current monsoon season is not merely a weather event; it is a stark reminder of Pakistan’s growing climate vulnerability. The combination of poor urban planning, neglected infrastructure, and inadequate emergency preparedness continues to place millions at risk. Federal and provincial authorities, along with the NDMA, must shift from reactive responses to proactive strategies—clearing drainage systems, deploying rescue teams in advance, and educating communities in high-risk areas. More importantly, Pakistan must treat climate adaptation as a national priority—investing in sustainable urban design, flood-resilient infrastructure, and water management systems. The time to act is now; failure to do so will only deepen the human and economic cost with each passing monsoon.