Revisiting 2010: The Flood That Submerged a Fifth of Pakistan

Each year in late July, Pakistan marks the anniversary of one of the most destructive natural disasters in its modern history. The 2010 floods began on July 26 of that year and, over the following weeks, submerged roughly one-fifth of the country's total land area, killed nearly 2,000 people, and left a mark on the nation that is still felt today.

What Happened

The disaster was triggered by unusually intense monsoon rains linked to a La Niña weather pattern and an anomalous jet stream, the same atmospheric disruption blamed for that summer's heat waves and wildfires in Russia. Meteorologists recorded rainfall unlike anything seen in decades: Peshawar alone received 274 millimeters of rain in 24 hours, breaking a record set just a year earlier, and several cities across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab logged similar record-breaking totals.

The water moved south along the Indus River basin, first devastating the northern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where more than 90 percent of all deaths occurred, before sweeping through Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, and Gilgit-Baltistan.