"She was six-hours-old when I reached Badmi village in our boat," said aid worker Faisal Edhi, who returned Tuesday from southern Sindh province's worst-hit district of Badin, some 300 kilometers northeast of Karachi.

Her home was submerged in water and the baby's delivery was handled by family women.

After waiting in vain for help, they erected bed sheets around her when she developed labour pains amid the downpour.

"People celebrated the birth in an inundated open field," he said, adding that the mother prefered not to be identified by name.

Faisal, leading a rescue team of the private Edhi Welfare Trust provided clothes, food and water to the new born's mother who said she had not eaten for two-days.

The baby and the entire family was shifted to a nearby camp on Monday, said Faisal, whose father, Abdul Sattar Edhi, winner of several international awards is called "Father Teresa of Pakistan" because of his massive relief network.

The Trust's fleet spread across the country includes hundreds of ambulances as well as some rescue helicopters and relief aircraft.

"The week-long rain has caused havoc in Sindh," he said adding that more than 100,000 marooned people were living without food and drinking water.

"I fear large-scale deaths, if immediate arrangements are not made to deliver food, water, medicines and blankets."

Officials admitted incessant rains had caused difficulties in shifting homeless people to relief camps set up in school buildings.

"So far the death toll is 100, but we are unaware of the conditions where we have not been able to reach yet," said a senior government official, requesting anonymity.

President Pervez Musharraf has ordered the local administration to speed up the relief work and Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali Tuesday dashed to Karachi to assess the losses caused by rains and floods.

Officials said some 5,000 villages have been flooded affecting around 400,000 people in the province.

The government has already deployed hundreds of army personnel to conduct rescue operations in rural Sindh where officials said some 33,000 houses have been fully or partially damaged.

Rescue workers said 15 people died in Karachi as the port city was paralyzed by heavy rains on Monday and Tuesday.

Officials have termed the current monsoon spell as the worst in southern Pakistan in a decade.

Meteorological department predicted more rain in Sindh on Wednesday.

TERRA.WIRE