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QADIR NAGAR, Pakistan: Two days before his wedding, Noor Muhammad had a long phone call with his mother, just hours before devastating floods in Pakistan killed her along with 23 family members and relatives.

“I cannot explain how happy she was,” he said standing by the rubble of his family’s large 36-room house, perched on the bank of a flood water channel in Qadir Nagar village.

The village in mountainous Buner district has been the worst hit by recent massive rain in the country, accounting for over 200 deaths out of nearly 400 in floods in the northwest since August 15.

Buner is a three-and-a-half-hour drive from the capital Islamabad.

“Everything was finished,” sobbed Muhammad, 25, as mourners sat at his damaged house to offer condolences, saying there was nothing left when he got home except for rubble and heavy rocks, which swept down from the mountains along with mud and raging flood waters, smashing into houses, markets and buildings.

“The flood came, a huge flood came, it swept away everything, home, mother, sister, brother, my uncle, my grandfather and children.”

Muhammad works as a laborer in Malaysia. He arrived at the Islamabad airport on August 15 to drive home where his wedding preparations were in full swing for two days later.

Instead, he attended 24 funerals.

They included his mother, a brother and a sister, he said, adding that his father and another brother survived because they had gone to pick him up at the airport.

The rest of the fatalities were among his uncles’ families who shared the house built by his grandfather, and relatives who are attending his marriage.

His fiance survived. Her home was away from the worst of the damage.

DEVASTATING FLASH FLOODS

The flash floods triggered by the worst of this year’s monsoon and cloudbursts, which started in the mountainous northwest have spread to other parts of the country of 240 million, bringing death and destruction at a large scale.

Authorities have said the longer spell of heavy rain and rare cloudbursts were rooted in climate change due to global warming, fearing the intensity will increase in the coming years.

“We and our elders have never seen a storm like this in our lives,” said Muhammad Zeb, 28, a resident in Buner. It was a complete chaos, and massive disaster, he added.

“You can see for yourself, this was a beautiful place with homes. But now, as you can see, the flood and storm have swept everything away.”

An unknown number of people remain missing, with dead bodies still being recovered, officials said.

The overall death toll across the country in the monsoon rains which began in late June stood at 776, according to the National Disaster Management Authority, which said more than 25,000 people had been rescued in the northwest.

The army and air force have joined the rescue and relief efforts.

Officials have warned of more storms ahead with another two spells of monsoon rain expected until September 10.

Buner received more than 150 mm (5.91 inches) of rain within an hour triggered by a cloudburst in the single most destructive event in this monsoon season.

A cloudburst is a rare phenomenon where more than 100mm (3.9 inches) of rainfall within an hour in a small area.

Only four people of the 28 in his house survived, Muhammad said.

“What else can we say? It’s God’s will,” he said.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani javelin star Yasir Sultan on Friday clinched the bronze medal at the Asian Throwing Championships in South Korea, with a season’s best throw of 77.43 meters.

Sultan threw the massive 77.43 meters on his sixth attempt to break his previous season’s best of 76.07 meters at the Asian Athletics Championships in May.

Sri Lanka’s Pathirage Rumesh Tharanga won gold with an 82.05-meter throw and became the only athlete to cross the 80m barrier this morning. He was followed by Japan’s Gen Naganuma with 78.60 meters.

“Yasir Sultan throws a season’s best of 77.43m to clinch BRONZE at the Asian Throwing Championships 2025 in Mokpo, South Korea,” the Pakistan Sports Board said on Instagram.

“Yasir not only secured a podium finish but also broke his own season’s record. A new victory for Pakistan athletics!“

Sultan won the silver medal at the last year’s Asian Throwing Championships with a 78.10-meter throw and the bronze medal in 2023 with a 79.93-meter throw, which still stands as his personal best.

The javelin ace has yet to cross the 80-meter mark.