Pakistan assesses flood damage

Army troops help stranded residents in the water in Rawalpindi

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- The torrential downpours that killed some 200 people in Pakistan have ended a drought, but caused millions of dollars worth of damage.

The government is coordinating relief and rescue works and is expected to come out with an exact figure of the cost of damage soon.

Water officials say river levels had risen, though there were currently no floods.

Weather officials said the outlook for the rest of the monsoon season that ends in September was for above-average rain.

Levels in Pakistan's two main reservoirs, Mangla and Tarbela -- both of which had hit the so-called "dead level" -- had risen sharply though they were still not full.

Relief operations were continuing on Thursday in parts of northern Pakistan, which were worst hit by the record rains earlier this week that killed about 200 people and injured a similar number.

Terrible situation

Most of the deaths were caused by mudslides, flash floods and collapsing houses in the North West Frontier Province, the capital Islamabad and the adjacent city of Rawalpindi.

"The situation for the people is still terrible, there has been such a colossal loss, there is so much sorrow," said Khurram Agha, a senior official in Rawalpindi, where the authorities have a list of 36 dead.

Torrential rains have killed at least 200 people and left many injured and homeless

"There must be many more deaths," said Agha, explaining the figure only included victims about whom the government had personal details.

Pakistani newspapers put the death toll in Islamabad and Rawalpindi at 50 to 70, but dozens of people are still believed to be missing.

Agha said the cost of property damage in his city would be in the billions of rupees but said it was too early to come up with an exact figure.

"Right now our focus is on providing emergency help to all the needy people, we will look into the damage later," he said.

Thousands of people were displaced by the worst floods in memory in Rawalpindi.

The city was not only hit by the record rain but it lies on a lower level than neighboring Islamabad, which recorded 620 mm (24 inches) of rain in 10 hours on Monday, and so was hit by the run-off from there as well.

Reuters contributed to this report.