PESHAWAR (AFP) -- The death toll from Pakistan's worst floods in living memory stood at over 1,100 on Monday, with water-borne disease emerging as a threat to survivors.

The international Red Cross said Monday that up to 2.5 million people across Pakistan have been affected by heavy flooding brought on by torrential monsoon rains.
“According to official sources, flooding caused by torrential monsoon rains has killed more than 1,100 people in Pakistan and affected up to 2.5 million people across the country in the past week,” the International Committee of the Red Cross said.
“In the worst-affected areas, entire villages were washed away without warning by walls of flood water,” it said in a statement, noting that thousands of people “have lost everything.”
“The floods have killed more than 1,100 people in different parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and affected over 1.5 million,” Mian Iftikhar Hussain, the province's information minister earlier told AFP.
“We are receiving information about the loss of life and property caused by the floods all over the province,” he said, adding that he feared the death toll could rise.
A senior official at the provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) confirmed the toll.
Hussain said more than 3,700 homes had been swept away and the number of people made homeless was mounting.
Hundreds of survivors sought shelter in schools in Peshawar and Muzaffarabad after escaping the floods with children on their backs.
The US government has announced an initial 10-million-dollar aid pledge and has rushed helicopters and boats to Pakistan.
China, which has also been hit by severe flooding, announced a 10 million yuan donation, according to the Xinhua news agency.
Hussain said rescue teams were trying to reach 1,500 tourists stranded in Swat district.
“We are also getting confirmation of reports about an outbreak of cholera in some areas of Swat,” he said.
The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) said it had airlifted more than 500 stranded people, including six foreigners, as part of relief operations and was carrying out reconnaissance missions to assess the damage to infrastructure.
Television footage and photographs taken from helicopters showed people clinging to the walls and rooftops of damaged houses as water rushed through villages.
The country’s weather bureau said the northwest had been hit by an “unprecedented” 312 millimeters of rain in 36 hours.
More than 300 people affected by the floods rallied in Peshawar on Sunday, chanting slogans criticizing the provincial government for not providing them with adequate shelter.
“I had built a two-room house on the outskirts of Peshawar with my hard-earned money but I lost it in the floods,” said 53-year-old laborer Ejaz Khan, who joined the rally.
“The government is not helping us... the school building where I sheltered is packed with people, with no adequate arrangement for food and medicine,” Khan told AFP.
Photo: Villagers carry what’s left from their collapsed houses following heavy flooding in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, August 1, 2010. (AP photo)
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