It seems Pakistan has found its newest accidental internet star and once again, it’s a TV reporter under duress. This time, a journalist, identified as Mehrunnisa, had her “Chand Nawab” moment while reporting on the flood coverage near the Ravi River.

Visibly rattled as waters surged around her, she confessed on camera, “Mujhe bahut dar lag raha hai. Guys, please pray for us. I am very scared. Balance nahi ho raha hai.” The video clip was instantly meme material. Social media feeds flooded with comparisons to Chand Nawab, the Karachi reporter whose train-station struggles turned into a hilarious pop-culture video (The sequence was later copied as it is in the film Bajrangi Bhaijaan).

Intense monsoon woes of Pakistan

While the internet laughed, the backdrop was no comedy. Pakistan has been pummeled by intensifying monsoon rains, with journalists increasingly becoming part of the disaster they cover. In July, a reporter was swept away on air by floodwaters near Chahan Dam in Rawalpindi.

Pakistan has become a stark case study of climate vulnerability. Experts say its fragile infrastructure, swelling population and precarious geography place it squarely on the frontline of the crisis. Since June this year, monsoon downpours have killed around 800 people in Pakistan. In the floods of 2022, as many as 1,700 people were killed and the country suffered nearly $31 billion in damages and recovery costs, according to the World Bank.

What causes flooding in Pakistan?

The risks are layered: seasonal rains that routinely overwhelm cities, searing heat waves, recurring droughts and rapidly melting glaciers in the north. These glaciers, once life-giving, are now spawning unstable lakes primed for sudden, destructive outbursts.

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“The trends are worsening because of climate change,” a BBC report quoted Dr Syed Faisal Saeed, chief meteorologist at the Pakistan Meteorological Department, as saying. He warned that heavier monsoons are likely in the decades ahead and that flooding is a structural, long-term challenge rather than a seasonal anomaly.