ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Record downpours have killed at least 170 people in northern Pakistan and disrupted relief and rescue works. After suffering from three years of drought in Pakistan, weather officials had warned earlier this month of heavier than normal monsoon rains.

Weather officials said they are expecting "moderate intensity" rain in northern Pakistan but heavy downpours in upper Punjab province, mainly in the area of the provincial capital Lahore.

Officials in the town of Manshera in the North West Frontier Province said 65 people were killed and more than 100 injured on Monday when a hillside village of more than 40 houses was swept away by a mudslide caused by the heavy rain. "Nine people are still missing," a police official told Reuters by telephone. "Relief work is going on . . . but it's still raining and work is not easy," he said.

The village destroyed by the landslide, Dadar, is 95 kilometers (60 miles) north of Islamabad, and in an area prone to landslides near the town of Shinkiari on the famous Karakoram Highway.

Access difficult It was difficult to get supplies to another remote village in the Swat valley in the province, where 30 people were killed by flash floods, lightening and collapsed houses.

"Access is difficult and it has rained all night and is still raining here," the official said.

Rescue workers in the capital Islamabad said hundreds of people were homeless after the rain destroyed their mud houses.

"We cannot give an exact figure but all the katchi abadis (mud settlements) have disappeared," a rescue official said.

State television said 9,000 troops were helping the flood-affected residents of Rawalpindi, which is next to Islamabad, and the government also announced compensation for people who lost their houses.

Casualties in India The television said 30 people were killed in the Islamabad-Rawalpindi area on Monday.

"Water has receded, traffic is normal and relief operations are going on but we could have done without this rain now," said an emergency official in Rawalpindi.

He said hundreds of people were homeless in Rawalpindi but authorities did not have an exact figure.

Witnesses said empty reservoirs including Rawal Dam in Islamabad were full of water after 620 mm (24 inches) of rain was dumped on the city in 10 hours on Monday.

Nearly 60 people were killed and more than half a million hit by monsoon floods in eastern parts of neighboring India last week.

Reuters contributed to this report. http://asia.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/south/07/24/pakistan.170died/index.html

-- Rich Marsh (marshr@airmail.net), July 24, 2001