Disaster

Pakistan Issues Red Alert for Flooding

12 million affected as waters sweep south.

Pakistan has issued a red alert as flooding continues to ravage the country. Waters are sweeping southward into Sindh province, and more than half a million people have been evacuated from their homes. Meteorologists are predicting at least two more days of rain in Sindh, where the flood threat is “imminent” and “extreme.” Hundreds of villages have been flooded, 1,600 people have died and 12 million others have been affected by the worst flooding in eight decades. And helicopters tasked with dropping food and pulling out survivors have been grounded by the bad weather. Yet President Asif Ali Zardari refuses to return from a long trip abroad, saying the cabinet could handle the crisis.