Lahore/kasur/fine:
Punjab, the country’s barn, continued staggering from one of the worst floods in decades on Friday, with three of its main rivers in the “super flood” stage and the authorities forced to explode part of the Ribano of Sutlej to save Kasur from being swallowed by the ascending waters.
At least 28 people have already lost their lives, most of them in the Gujranwala division, abused by sudden floods and urban flooding.
The Provincial Authority for Disaster Management (PDMA) confirmed that water levels in the upper sections of the Ravi and Chenab rivers have begun to go back. However, downstream flows remain an ascending tide.
Meanwhile, River Sutlej has increased to its highest level since 1955, which led officials to deliberately violate the RRA-1 embankment to protect the city of Kasur.
“The increase in the flow of water from India means that water in Sutlej hastened to Kasur,” said a PDMA official and added: “We are forced to violate the rahimyar embankment to save Kasur.”
The PDMA also warned of an imminent threat in Okara and Sahiwal, warning that the increase in Ravi’s increase could flood Sadani within 36 hours. “When the water level is high in Balloki, problems will arise in the drain dike,” the authority warned.
On Friday, the waters of the flood reached the outskirts of the second largest city in the country, Lahore, and threatened to immerse themselves in the main city of Jhang, in the worst floods in almost 40 years in that part of the country.
More rains feared
Meanwhile, the Department of Meteorology of Pakistan (PMD) predicted new rounds of generalized rain, wind and thunderstorms on Saturday (today) in multiple regions.
Sudden floods, urban floods and landslides in Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir, Islamabad and the Potohar region are afraid, while the northeast of Baluchistan, the southeast of Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan can also be unleashed by the night descending.
The PMD warned that heavy rains could trigger floods in streams and Nullahs in northern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Murree, Galliyat, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and the northeast of Punjab, while the low quality areas in cities such as Lahore, Gujranwala and urban floods.
Earth landslides and landslides can also block roads in mountainous extensions of KP and Kashmir.
More than 1.4 million people hit
The continuous devastating floods have affected 1.45 million people in 1,769 villages in Punjab, the official figures revealed on Friday.
According to the PDMA, the Ravi, Chenab and Sutlej rivers are in the control of a super flood and have flooded vast stripes of earth.
In response, 365 aid camps have been established in the districts affected by floods to protect the displaced population.
The authorities said that rescue operations have so far evacuated 429,177 people, while more than 300,000 cattle have also been transferred to a safer land.
The waters of floods in the main rivers of Punjab have reached some of their highest levels in decades, and the authorities confirm that the flow of the Ravi River in the Shahdara Point de Lahore increased to 220,000 Cusecs, the greatest increase since 1988.
While water levels remain dangerously high in parts of the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab, the authorities say that the flows in most of the main head lips are stable and are under control.
A head is a civil engineering structure, such as a landfill or flood, built through a river to divert water in a channel or other river route for irrigation or other ends
According to the Irrigation Department of Punjab, the Ravi in Jassar flows to 85,980 CUSECs, while Shahdara recorded 201,400 Cusecs with levels that now fall gradually.
In the siphon Ravi, the flow is found in 202,428 Cusecs, showing a downward trend.
On the contrary, water levels are increasing in Balloki Headworks, where the flow has reached 151,560 Cusec, while Sidhnai heads remain stable at 25,478 CUSECs.
In the Sutlej, the flows remain heavy since Ganda Singh Wala registered 261,053 Cusecs, Sulemanki 113,124 Cusecs and Islam Headworks 60,814 Cusecs, all stable but under nearby surveillance.
In Chenab, Marala reported a discharge of 116,440 CUSECS, Khanki 188,100 Cusecs and Qadirabad 217,375 Cusecs, with flows described as parked. However, in Chinast Bridge, the river carried 842,500 extraordinary Cusecs, while Trimmu Headworks registered 129,372 Cusecs.
Lahore’s Shahdara hit hard
The general director of the PDMA, Irfan Ali Kathia, confirmed that the mass increase through Shahdara de Lahore was the highest since 1988, although the city did not report that there is no loss of lives.
He pointed out that Floodwaters entered nine sites in Lahore, but the appropriate rescue operations prevented victims.
Currently, more than 147,000 Cusec will pass through Balloki, and the downstream flows are expected to merge with the Ravi.
Kathia said that India continues to release around 80,000 Cusecs from Madhopur’s heads, water that will travel through Shahdara, Chinint and from now on to Rewas Bridge, now described as the “greatest concern” of the government.
He added that officials are considering raping protective embankments near Rewas to safeguard Jhang. The downstream is expected to be expected that the waters of the floods will reach Trimmu, the head of Muhammadwala and, finally, the Fine River system.
The situation in the Sutlej remains precarious, with flows greater than 200,000 Cusecs sustained for four consecutive days near Kasur, increasing the alarms in Sulemanki.
In Wazirabad, the retreat fetid tide left the mud, the humming insects and the threat of the disease.
The mother of four children Nazia Nasir told AFP that the army evacuated her family, who found that her house collapsed upon her return.
“Everything we have is lying in ruins,” said the 40 -year -old woman, cleaning her mud with her naked hands.
“My son has nothing to wear, walk with just one shirt. The crops we trust for our livelihood have gone.”
Nasima Bibi could not return to her submerged home, camping on a higher land on the road.
“I don’t know what I will find, but I have no other place where to go. The sun has burned my skin but I can’t leave,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is ready to call an emergency meeting with the provincial main ministers and heads of all relevant institutions about a strategy to deal with climate change and future floods, the government announced in a position in X.
“A strategy for the construction of water deposits in the four provinces, Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, and for better water management,” reads the publication, and added that these deposits would be built with cooperation of all provinces.
“Climate change is a reality, and only through effective preparation for it, natural disasters damage can be avoided,” said the publication. The four provinces, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and the Federation must work together to protect people from the adverse effects of climate change.
“This is a national problem in which everyone must work together.”
