国际英语新闻：Emergency declared in Pakistani flood-hit areas

According to the meteorological department, current recorded rains have broken the 34-year old record of torrential rains in the different parts of the country.

The rains flooded almost all the main bazaars, roads and residential areas of the provincial capital Peshawar and compelled the residents to leave their homes.

Water management authorities on Thursday night ordered to open the spill ways of the dams after water level reached at dangerous level. The country which was facing severe water shortage just a week back, but now has so much extra uncontrollable water.

The Silk Route, a business road linking Pakistan and China, has been damaged at seven different points due to rain resulted land sliding. Another road in the NW Pakistan leading to Afghanistan has been closed at Jamrud city due to floods.

The affected people are facing severe shortage of food, water and medicine. Especially many people have been reportedly bit by the snakes.

District Charsadda, a city in the NW Pakistan, has got more than 100,000 people reportedly stranded by floodwater and the city has been cut off from the other part of the area.

Three Chinese engineers along with Frontier Corps personnel are reportedly went missing in Kohistan after the flood hit the area. But 52 other Chinese engineers and their Pakistani co-workers working on a hydroelectric project in the area were rescued and lifted to the safe place through helicopters.

Provincial Information Minister Mian Iftikhar asked the people of the affected areas to shift to safer places without any further delay.

He also appealed to the Federal and other provincial governments of the country as well as to the organizations engaged in relief activities to help extend aid to calamity-hit province.

The floodwater has also entered into the residential area of the garrison city of Rawalpindi adjacent to the capital Islamabad. More than three persons were died when a two story building smashed down.

American Embassy has provided seven helicopters to the government of Pakistan which would assist in the rescue operation in the flooded areas, a spokesman of the U.S. Embassy said on Friday.

"The heavy monsoon rains have caused much suffering," said NW Patterson, U.S. Ambassador in Islamabad.

"We are working with Pakistan's government to review urgent humanitarian needs and hope to announce additional assistance very soon," U.S. Embassy quoted the envoy in its press release