In Pictures: One-third of Pakistan under water right now, says minister after deadly floods

Tens of millions of people across swathes of Pakistan were Monday battling the worst monsoon floods in a decade, with countless homes washed away, vital farmland destroyed, and the country's main river threatening to burst its banks. Above: Rescue workers use a boat to drop children back home after school in a flood hit area following heavy monsoon rains in Dera Ghazi Khan district in Punjab.

Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman said a third of the country was under water, creating a "crisis of unimaginable proportions". Above: This aerial view shows a flooded residential area after heavy monsoon rains in Balochistan province.

Officials say 1,061 people have died since June when the seasonal rains began, but the final toll could be higher as hundreds of villages in the mountainous north have been cut off after flood-swollen rivers washed away roads and bridges. Above: Flood affected women fill drinking water from a handpump amid a flooded street following heavy monsoon rains in Jaffarabad district of Balochistan province.

The annual monsoon is essential for irrigating crops and replenishing lakes and dams across the Indian subcontinent, but it can also bring destruction. Above: Displaced families take refuge on a roadside after fleeing their flood-hit homes, in Charsadda.

This year's flooding has affected more than 33 million people - one in seven Pakistanis - said the National Disaster Management Authority. "It's all one big ocean, there's no dry land to pump the water out," Rehman told AFP, adding the economic cost would also be devastating. Above: A worker loads foodstuff into a helicopter for distribution among displaced people in flood-hit areas, in Sadu Sharif, Swat Valley.

This year's floods are comparable to those of 2010 - the worst on record - when more than 2,000 people died. Flood victims have taken refuge in makeshift camps that have sprung up across the country, where desperation is setting in. Above: People wade through a flooded area of Sohbatpur, a district of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province.

Government workers repair electricity cables to restore services damaged by flooding, in Kanju, Swat Valley.

Millions of acres of rich farmland have been flooded by weeks of non-stop rain, but now the Indus is threatening to burst its banks as torrents of water course downstream from tributaries in the north. Above : A man clears the mud from the ground following rains and floods during the monsoon season in Charsadda.