How floods in Pakistan turned wedding celebrations into 24 funerals

Noor Muhammad, 25, who lost 24 family members and relatives, receives guests at a condolence gathering, at his 36-room family house which was hit by devastating floods in the mountainous Qadir Nagar village of Buner district, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, August 21, 2025. - Reuters

QADIR NAGAR, Pakistan: Two days before his wedding, Noor Muhammad had a long phone call with his mother, just hours before devastating floods in Pakistan killed her along with 23 family members and relatives.

"I cannot explain how happy she was," he said standing by the rubble of his family's large 36-room house, perched on the bank of a flood water channel in Qadir Nagar village. The village in mountainous Buner district has been the worst hit by recent massive rain in the country, accounting for over 200 deaths out of nearly 400 in floods in the northwest since August 15.