The scale of the floods in Pakistan in maps, photos and videos

Maxar Technologies released satellite images of the city of Rojhan, in the state of Punjab, before and during the floods that showed entire communities cut off.

As Pakistan grapples with the loss of homes and farmland, as well as the risk of disease, many fear the country’s humanitarian disaster is just beginning.

190 percent more rain than normal

Exceptional rainfall began in Pakistan in June after months of record heat waves and little precipitation.

The ground was dry and loose due to record heat, triggering mudslides across the country. The melting of the glaciers caused floods.

Precipitation increased further as monsoon season started in July, which became the wettest on record since 1961, according to the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

Pakistan has had eight rounds of widespread rain this monsoon season, about double the normal amount. The country has experienced 190 percent more rain than average from the beginning of June to the end of August. As the Indus River swelled due to constant rainfall and glaciers melted, low-lying areas were devastated.

The last two weeks brought even more rain to the southern region of Pakistan.

Satellite images of August. 28 to August 30 showed visible areas of flooding.

Baluchistan and Sindh provinces recorded rainfall of 410 percent and 466 percent above average, respectively, from early June to August. 29. The subsequent floods have devastated villages and changed lives.

“It has been raining in my village for the last two months,” said Zahid Ali Jalalani, a 35-year-old farmer from Sindh’s Khairpur district, who spoke to The Washington Post by phone. After a canal broke last week, his town was flooded overnight, with water levels rising to 10 feet in some areas. Across the south, families waded through the high waters in search of dry land.

“It was the most terrible night of my life,” he said. “My house is well built, but at one point it seemed as if the walls were shaking.”

More than 1,160 people died

Extreme flooding has killed more than 1,160 people, many of them children, according to the Pakistani government.

Jalalani left her house to the sound of cries for help, she recalled. He said that he spent more than six hours saving people who were trapped by the water, which had risen past his shoulders. He knew a man who drowned.

“It was under a pile of rubble and we couldn’t get it out,” Jalalani said. “It was so dark.”

Hundreds of people from her village are in a makeshift camp, while there are almost 500,000 people in camps for displaced people across the country.

Thousands more who have fled their homes in Sindh are still struggling to find care. Many walked for days in search of shelter, pitching tents along the province’s main highway. Others have moved into abandoned buildings.

At a high school in the city of Jamshoro, hundreds of people filled the surrounding classrooms and gardens. Most had nothing but the clothes they fled in.

Ghulam Qadir, 17, ran away from his village two weeks ago. He and five members of his family have been sleeping in a classroom for more than a week.

“We left our house when the water was almost up to my neck,” Qadir said. His house had begun to collapse. Two rooms collapsed and another began to crumble. “I was worried about my family, especially the children,” he said.

The government estimates that 33 million people have been affected by the floods, about 13 percent of the population.

World Health Organization said Wednesday that 888 health facilities have been damaged, even though Experts warned that the disaster could lead to an increase in disease and malnutrition. Stagnant water can act as a breeding ground for mosquitoes that transmit dengue and malaria.

Vector-borne disease researcher Erum Khan said dengue cases have already increased since the flood. His lab at Aga Khan University in Karachi reported more than 200 cases in August, compared with fewer than 30 in April. “The actual numbers are likely to be much higher,” Khan added.

The destruction has left parts of the country unable to function. Officials said Tuesday that 1 million homes have been destroyed, as well as 2,100 miles of road, roughly the distance between DC and Salt Lake City. Bridges and dams were also ruined. Pakistani Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said on Monday that more than $10 billion was needed to rebuild.

Thousands of acres of farmland are under water and aid workers are struggling to reach isolated communities.

“What is coming is a food shortage that will affect towns and cities alike,” Khan said.

Sindh’s agricultural economy “has totally collapsed,” Iqbal told a news conference on Tuesday. “Nearly half of our cotton crop is destroyed,” he said. Rice was also damaged and 700,000 head of cattle were lost across the country. He called the flooding a “climate disaster” and said Pakistan, one of the world’s lowest emitters of carbon dioxide per capita, was suffering the most severe consequences of climate change.

“Someone is paying the price in the developing world,” Iqbal said.

Ruby Mellen, Kasha Patel and Laris Karklis reported from Washington. Susannah George reported from Kabul. Haq Nawaz Khan reported from Jamshoro, Pakistan. Shaiq Hussain reported from Islamabad. Gerry Shih reported from Delhi.