The United Nations launched an emergency appeal for $160 million in aid for Pakistan on Tuesday, Reuters reported.

Guterres said the $160 million he hopes to raise through the appeal will provide 5.2 million people with food, water, sanitation, emergency education and medical care.

The historic flooding, caused largely by abnormal monsoon rains, has killed more than 1,100 people and affected 33 million, destroying homes, businesses, infrastructure and crops.

"There is sadness everywhere in Pakistan. According to Guterres, the incredible impact of epoch levels of rain and floods is forcing Pakistanis to tackle the monsoon on steroids."

He said the magnitude of the country's need. millions of people displaced from their homes and schools, medical facilities and livelihoods devastated by the climate disaster, required the collective and priority attention of the world.

Nearly 300 stranded people, including some tourists, were airlifted to northern Pakistan, the state disaster management agency said in a statement, and more than 50,000 people were transferred to two government camps in the northwest.

Preliminary estimates put the damage from the floods at more than $10 billion, the government said, adding that the world has an obligation to help the South Asian country cope with the effects of man-made climate change.

Heavy rains caused flash floods that swept down from the northern mountains, destroying buildings and bridges and washing away roads and crops.

Colossal amounts of water have poured into the Indus River, which runs through the center of the country from the northern peaks to the southern plains, causing flooding along its entire length.

Pakistan estimates that floods have affected more than 33 million people, or more than 15 percent of the country's 220 million population.