Devastation on repeat: How climate change is worsening Pakistan's deadly floods

Scenes like this played out across the province, with rescuers delayed due to uprooted trees and major infrastructure being destroyed. A helicopter carrying aid crashed in the bad weather, claiming the lives of all crew on board.

"Just a few kilometres from parliament and still such things happen in Pakistan," he says, visibly frustrated. "It's because of misgovernance, the role of the government is to be a watchdog."

Former climate minister Senator Sherry Rehman, who chairs the climate committee in Pakistan's Senate, calls it "graft", or simply "looking the other way" when permissions are given for construction in vulnerable areas.

By late August, further south in the province of Punjab, floods had submerged 4,500 villages, overwhelming "Pakistan's breadbasket", in a country that can't always afford to import enough food.

For the first time, three rivers - the Sutlej, Ravi and Chenab - flooded simultaneously, triggering the largest rescue operation in decades.

"It was the most important anomaly," said Syed Muhammad Tayyab Shah, the chief risk officer for the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Some residents were moved to tents provided by the Alkhidmat Foundation Pakistan. Sitting outside in the summer heat, Sumera was weeks away from giving birth. She was extremely thin.

"My doctor says I need two blood transfusions this week," she said as she tried to keep hold of her toddler, Arsh.

Nearby, Ali Ahmad was balancing a small kitten he rescued from the floods on his shoulder. The boy was one of the few who had a mattress to sleep on.