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

Pakistan declared a public holiday in Karachi as the financial capital braced for more rain on Wednesday, after the arrival of the annual monsoon season left at least seven people dead and caused widespread flooding,

Ongoing heavy rains and flooding have claimed 43 more lives in Pakistan in just 24 hours, raising the death toll since Aug. 14 to 437, the national and provincial disaster management authorities said Wednesday.

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.

Flash floods triggered by cloudbursts in the mountainous northwest have brought destruction since Friday in the worst spell of this year's monsoon.

Pakistan has received higher-than-normal monsoon rainfall this year, triggering floods and mudslides that have killed more than 540 people since June 26.

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.