At least 31 people were killed and 47 injured in rain-related incidents in Pakistan in the last three days, the authorities said on Sunday.The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in a statement said Balochistan province was the worst hit where 17 people were killed and 15 others injured besides 48 houses that collapsed following torrential rains, Xinhua reported.The northwest tribal region also received heavy rain which caused several roof collapses.The NDMA said eight people were killed, 18 others injured and three houses collapsed in the heavy downpour in the area.Five labourers were killed and six injured when a coal mine caved in following landslides caused by heavy rains in Orakzai area of the tribal belt.Earlier reports said seven labourers were killed and 10 injured in the coal mine accident.In the northwest Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, one man was killed, eight were injured and two houses destroyed due to torrential rains.
The director general of the Met office said the current weather condition will persist till Monday morning and a new spell of rain was expected to hit the country from Wednesday.He said the new system would engulf the country from Balochistan, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and other parts and would continue till March 19.He said that normally the country does not witness such a severe rain pattern in the spring season, but due to the El Nino climate cycles, temperatures in the Pacific Ocean were warmer than normal.These anomalies are the hallmark of the El Nino climate cycles, which can influence weather patterns across the globe, he added.