Authorities have said that Pakistani troops were trying to rescue thousands of people trapped by flooding and landslides that killed at least 1,500 people.

In addition to those killed, "at least 500 people are wounded and another 900 are missing," Bbilqis Edhi of the Edhi Foundation told the Indo-Asian News Service.

Bilqis Edhi of the Edhi Foundation, said, "God forbid but I think that in coming days the death toll might reach 3,000."

Much of the province's infrastructure was gone, Haider Khan Hoti, chief minister of Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa, told the news agency.

Hoti said, "All the major roads, bridges have been destroyed and so are the police stations, administration buildings, telephone exchange. Thousands of houses have been razed to the ground by the storm and at least 1 million people have been homeless."

The Wall Street Journal has reported that much of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province remained submerged, whole villages had been wiped out and concerns mounted about thousands stranded without relief supplies.

It has also been reported that Army helicopters dropped food parcels and the rain subsided but relief workers worried about further devastation with more rain forecast this week.

According to officials, thousands of Pakistani troops who had been fighting the Taliban were redeployed for rescue and relief operations.

An army official further said that about 28,000 people have been rescued, but thousands remained stranded and health officials worried about diarrhea and other diseases being spread through contaminated water systems.

There were reports of cholera in the battered Swat Valley, still struggling to recover from fighting last year between the army and Taliban militants, The Journal said.

Haider Shah, a relief worker in the Mardan district, said, "It is a desperate situation for thousands of villagers with no food and clean drinking water. There are hardly any structures left standing and people are cramped in the few homes which are still intact." (With Inputs from Agencies)