Peshawar, Pakistan (CNN) -- As rain continued pelting parts of Pakistan Tuesday, officials said relief efforts in remote areas devastated by flooding remained a significant challenge.
The flooding -- caused by torrential monsoon rains -- may have killed as many as 1,500 people, a government official told reporters. As floodwaters recede, the count may surge higher.
A Pakistani Red Crescent official told CNN that nearly 2.5 million have been affected by the floods.
But with floodwaters washing out roads, highways and bridges, many of them have remained out of help's reach.
"This is the key issue for the next day, to find [a] solution to access the population in remote valleys," Jean-Marc Favre of the International Committee for the Red Cross told CNN Tuesday.
Displaced people -- including thousands of Afghan refugees -- were crammed into public buildings and schools, officials said.
"Those who survived these punishing floods are still at grave risk. They are exposed and vulnerable and urgently need our help," U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said. "The Pakistani people of this region have been serving as the generous hosts of more than a million Afghan refugees. Now is the time for the international community to demonstrate the same kind of solidarity with them".
CNN
