Pakistan has restored 70% of electricity and reopened damaged roads in the north and northwest after flash floods killed more than 300 people.

Nearly 400 people were killed and villages were destroyed by monsoon rains and flash floods in northern Pakistan. Roads were also cut off.

Pakistan has restored 70 percent of electricity service and reopened damaged roads in the north and northwest after flash floods killed more than 300 people, officials say. Information Minister Attaullah Tarar said on Tuesday that engineers were working to fully restore the electricity system that was knocked out by flooding last week.

Officials say rescuers have recovered dozens more bodies from the rubble of collapsed homes in a northwestern district of Pakistan, bringing the death toll to at least 274, as authorities defended their response to the flooding and said they did not need any foreign help at this point.

A changing climate has made residents of northern Pakistan's river-carved mountainous areas more vulnerable to sudden, heavy rains.View on euronews

Pope Leo XIV offered prayers and expressed his closeness for the victims of severe flooding that hit Pakistan, India and Nepal. The Pope shared his prayers “for the victims and their families, and for all those who are suffering as a result of this calamity,” Vatican News reported on Aug. 18.