Pakistan Flood Toll Reaches 900

A boy hangs on to the front of a cargo truck while passing through a flooded road in Risalpur, in Pakistan's Nowshera district, on July 30.

The death toll from the severe flooding in northwestern Pakistan has now risen above 900, according to officials.

Thousands of people are still trapped by the flooding, which is described as the worst since Pakistan was formed.

Rescue efforts have been aided by a slackening of the monsoon rains in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province.

But as flood waters have started to recede, the authorities have begun to see the full scale of the disaster.

Latifur Rehman, spokesman for the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, described the destruction as "massive," saying aerial surveys show that whole villages have been washed away, animals have drowned, and grain storages have been destroyed.

compiled from agency reports