Southern Pakistan braced for more flooding on Thursday as a surge of water flowed down the Indus river, compounding the devastation in a country a third of which is already inundated by a disaster blamed on climate change.

Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in northern mountains have triggered floods that have killed at least 1,191 people, including 399 children.

The United Nations has appealed for $160 million to help with what it has called an “unprecedented climate catastrophe”.

Wahab said a flow of some 600,000 cubic feet per second was expected to swell the Indus, testing its flood defences.

Pakistan has received nearly 190% more rain than the 30-year average in the quarter from June to August, totalling 390.7mm (15.38 inches).

Some parts of the province look like an inland sea with only occasional patches of trees or raised roads breaking the surface of the murky flood waters.

Hundreds of families have taken refugee on roads, the only dry land in sight for many of them.

Villagers rushed to meet a Reuters news team passing along one road near the town of Dadu on Thursday, begging for food or other help.