More than 100 fishermen have been rescued by the navy

Rescuers in southern Pakistan are battling to reach tens of thousands of people stranded after a cyclone struck the country’s Arabian Sea coastline.

Many people are clinging to trees and rooftops to escape floods. Bad weather and damaged roads, bridges and phone links are slowing relief efforts.

Thousands lost their homes having fled to high ground ahead of cyclone Yemyin. At least 20 people are reported killed.

Out to sea, Pakistan’s navy has rescued more than 100 fishermen from the storm.

The entire town has been inundated and people have taken refuge in tall buildings and trees

Rauf Rind
Mayor of Kech

Your stories from Karachi
Human cost of storms

Rains have eased in Pakistani’s biggest city, Karachi, where at last 200 people died in floods over the weekend.

Five people were electrocuted in different parts of the city on Tuesday night as officials tried to restore electricity.

Days of heavy rain in southern India and Pakistan have left several hundred people dead.

Airlifts

Thousands of people in the coastal areas of Ormara, Pasni, Gwadar and Jewani lost their homes after the cyclone struck the coast of Balochistan province, west of Karachi.

Road links have been severed by the flood waters

The BBC’s Azizullah Khan in the provincial capital, Quetta, says at least 20 people are confirmed killed by bad weather in Balochistan this week, based on official and eyewitness accounts.

Residents of the port of Gwadar and of more than 100 villages in the districts of Kech inland have been evacuated.

Hundreds of motorists were stranded on the coastal highway which links southern Balochistan with the rest of Pakistan. Parts of the road were washed away by the cyclone.

Pakistan’s navy says it has airlifted food and emergency supplies to the motorists. Elsewhere, people say they have yet to see any help.

“We are hungry, we are thirsty, the authorities say they are sending helicopters but we have not seen any,” Hamal Baloch, a resident of Kech, told the AFP news agency.

The town of Turbat is amongst the worst hit. A number of people are clinging to the roof of a mosque, officials say - the navy’s attempts to rescue them have so far failed.

‘Out of control’

At least one small dam near the town of Pasni has broken, inundating dozens of villages.

In pictures: Karachi rain

The floods are also threatening the Mirani dam in Kech district, reports say. One unconfirmed report said water from the dam had overflown into the area and drowned 12 people.

“The situation is out of our hands, it’s out of control. The entire town has been inundated and people have taken refuge in tall buildings and trees,” the mayor of Kech, Rauf Rind, told Reuters news agency.

The floods have also caused problems in northern Balochistan, severing a road link between Sibi and the provincial capital, Quetta.