A THIRD of Pakistan could be under water by the time the rains recede, Climate Minister Sherry Rehman warned today as she declared a “climate catastrophe.”

The official death count from devastating floods has now passed 1,000, with 119 people dying in the last 24 hours, the National Disaster Management Agency said.

Torrential rains have combined with warming temperatures melting more ice and snow than usual in Pakistan’s Himalaya and Karakoram ranges, prompting Ms Rehman to say the south Asian country was “at the ground zero — at the front line of extreme weather events.”