Pakistan issued a red alert as floods that have devastated the north-west swept south into the agricultural heartland of Sindh province. Authorities have evacuated hundreds of thousands of people living near the Indus River as hundreds of villages have been inundated by the flooding. Prime Minister Raza Yousuf Gilani has appealed for international aid. The worst floods in the region for 80 years have killed at least 1,600 people and affected about 14 million. Officials say 650,000 homes have been destroyed, 557,000 hectares of crop land has been flooded across the country and more than 10,000 cows have perished. Pakistan's meteorological department has predicted further downpours for badly-hit Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the north-west. The National Disaster Management Authority said all the helicopters working in the north-west to deliver aid and rescue stranded survivors have been grounded because of the bad weather.