At least 19 people are dead and scores more injured in the wake of heavy monsoon rains in the central Pakistani province of Punjab.

‘At least 19 people died in Punjab in [the] last 48 hours,’ said Khurram Shahzad, the director of the provincial disaster management authority of Punjab, said on Wednesday. He said 37 people were injured in incidents cased by the heavy rain.

Shahzad said that the eastern city of Lahore was worst hit by the heavy rain: eight people were killed there and over a dozen received injuries.

The recent rains are considered the heaviest in Lahore since 1980, when streets were flooded and low-lying areas of the city inundated.

Heavy monsoon rains were responsible for the deaths, mostly due to electrocutions and falling roofs and walls.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) put rescue and relief agencies on alert, warning that evacuations might be necessary, amid fears of flooding in the mountainous north of the country.

The authority warned of ‘low to medium’ level flooding in Punjab province in the next 24 hours and in the northern areas.

Thousands of people die in South Asia every year when monsoon rains cause floods and heavy damage.

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