Floods due to a cyclone and rain have left as many as 100 people dead in south-western Pakistan, a senior relief official said, as the government appealed for donations of tents to shelter about 1 million people left homeless by the flooding.

Helicopters were today being used to airdrop urgent relief aid to some of the more than 400,000 people battered by monsoon-spawned flooding in coastal areas of Pakistan.

Thousands of people were stranded on rooftops and tree branches today as cyclone-spawned floods surged through towns and villages of Pakistan’s coastline.