The southern Pakistani village of Karim Bakhsh is almost completely under muddy water after catastrophic monsoon rains – hardly any barns left for shelter, the wheat silos are empty and poisonous snakes are a constant threat.

But unlike the tens of thousands of people who have fled their flooded homes, villages and towns across the country, here several families have refused to leave.

With no formal title deeds, many residents worry that if they move, opportunists will confiscate land where their families have lived for generations.

“We had title papers from the British colonial government,” Intizar Ahmed, a 55-year-old farmer, told AFP on Wednesday while standing on an elevated patch of land near his mostly submerged homestead in Sindh province.

“But we lost her in a flood like this many years ago… (besides) we have no place to go.”

Others said they worried about the fate of their livestock – a resource far too valuable for poor villagers to leave behind.

“We have buffalo, cows and goats… if we leave the cattle behind, they would be stolen,” said Shah Mohammad, 35.

Mohammad and others not only looked for food for themselves but also for their animals.

There is enough food for the animals for now, he said, but villagers are struggling to refill empty wheat bins.

Aid by boat from charities is the only lifeline for those unable or unwilling to leave Karim Bakhsh.

The village was besieged by murky floods that stretched for more than a kilometer in some places.

Villagers were gathering on the few dry patches of land to wait for a boat operated by the Alkhidmat Foundation – a Pakistan-based humanitarian organization – when it rumbled through waist-deep water on the streets.

It was the first aid delivery in days.

The boat made several stops in the village so the helpers could distribute tents, food packages and other relief supplies.

A helper said the charity decided to make the deliveries after finding out some families didn’t want to go.

At each stop there was evidence of the destruction caused by torrential rain and flooding – the worst in decades.

Most homes and buildings were destroyed, and villagers were desperate for material that could help build a temporary shelter from the rain and—if it came out—from the scorching sun.

“Our houses collapsed… We cut down the trees and used the wood to support what was left of our walls,” said Gul Badshah, 70.

Another resident, Maqbool Ahmed, prepared for another local threat that’s particularly common during floods: venomous snakes.

He connected a small lamp to a car battery and placed the structure on a mound of earth.

“We light it at night to protect ourselves from snakes,” he told AFP.

“Sometimes cobras and vipers sneak up on us.”