Pakistan flood death toll 'passes 1,100'

The number of people known to have been killed by floods in north-west Pakistan has passed 1,100, officials say. Other sources sayd the death toll might be about 3000.

About 30,000 troops have joined the relief effort, with large parts of the north-west submerged by the worst monsoon rains in memory.

There are also fears that with more rain forecast for the next 24 hours, some areas face further threats. Part of the main north-south motorway into the region was reopened on Sunday, before reportedly closing again.

The opening allowed some aid supplies into the flooded area while permitting some people to flee the region. According to BBC News officials in Islamabad fear that once access to affected areas improves, the full picture will show that the situation is much worse than known so far.

A spokesman for the disaster management authority of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province - formerly known as North West Frontier Province - said an aerial survey was being conducted to determine the full extent of the flooding.

"It has shown that whole villages have been washed away, animals have drowned and grain storages have been washed away," said the spokesman, Latifur Rehman.

The Pakistani government says 19,000 people in the worst-hit areas had been rescued by soldiers by Saturday night, but that thousands more remained stranded. About one million people in the north-west of the country are estimated to be affected by the flooding.

There have been reports that the flood water is receding in some areas but officials fear that relief operations could be hampered by more rain, with a new monsoon system forecast to arrive in the next 24 hours.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton promised $10 million in emergency aid to Pakistan, while the UN’s World Food Program said it began handing out food to 35,000 families affected by the flooding as food supplies dwindle. In the meanwhile Chine promised to give $1.5 USD in aid.