LAHORE:
Punjab was beaten by catastrophic floods caused by heavy rains and worsened by the release of water from India, which led the provincial government to request the army with a massive operation of relief and rescue in several districts.
In extraordinary measures to save lives and protect the critical infrastructure, the authorities deliberately violated a embankment near the Qadirabad heads in the Chenab River to relieve pressure on the structure and reduce the destructive force of water.
Despite the intervention, the vast areas are still flooded, including the Kartarpur Gurdwara, one of the most sacred sites of Sijismo, where the waters of the floods entered the complex, interrupting the pilgrimage activity and that extends to dozens before the rescue ships evacuated them.
According to Rescue 1122, at least seven people, including five of the same family, were dragged by the waters of floods in the sambrian.
The Provincial Disaster Authority (PDMA) of Punjab said that a embankment near the Qadirabad dam on the Chenab River was violated to relieve pressure on the structure.
Rescue operations are underway in Punjab, where the waters of the floods have submerged houses, stores and culture lands in multiple districts.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) confirmed that more than 210,000 people have already been displaced, with additional evacuations planned when Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers swell to dangerous levels.
The Punjab government has sought military assistance in Lahore, Kasur, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Narkoowal, Okara, Sargodha and Hafizabad. Army units have been deployed to help evacuations of people and livestock, while rescue teams have been sent to flood -prone areas.
Ascending rivers
Reports indicate that water levels in the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab rivers have increased dangerously. The villages along the Sutlej in the districts of Kasur, Okara and Bahawalnagar have already seen floods, with waist crops to the water.
Local administrations have established temporary aid camps and have begun to change residents from river areas to a safer land. “We are trying to move people before the waters rise even more,” said a Kasur district official. “Our priority is to save lives first, then livelihoods.”
The attached commissioners in the Sargodha, Lodhran, Fine and Muzaffarh districts have issued red alerts, warning that records of records could flood dozens of villages and affect thousands of people.
The local accounts of Burewala say that the growing waters have violated protective embankments, flooding villages, including Lakhha Saldira, Mianpur and Madher, immersing cultivation land and displacing thousands.
In Muzaffarh, the officials described the current flood wave in the Chenab River as the largest since 2014, warning that almost 900,000 cusecs of water moved down the River down the Marala and soon they could hit Rangpur.
The Ministry of Water Resources warned that exceptionally high flood levels are expected in the next few days, and India opened all the doors of its main dams in Jammu and Kashmir (Iiojk) illegally occupied after heavy rains.
The flood has caused serious interruptions in the pilgrimage in Kartarpur, where the patio and its surroundings of Gurdwara have flooded. The authorities confirmed that the central sanctuary remained structurally safe in a higher land.
Meanwhile, the Department of Meteorology of Pakistan (PMD) has predicted more strong rains through Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and parts of Sindh and Balochistan from August 29 to September 2.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, presiding over an emergency meeting in Islamabad, addressed federal and provincial authorities to guarantee early warnings, timely evacuations and uninterrupted relief supplies in Punjab.
He emphasized the need for coordination between NDMA and PDMA to safeguard lives, properties and infrastructure. He also requested preventive steps in Sindh, warning that the next few days could bring more waves in the country’s already overloaded river system.
The prime minister was informed that there was a risk of high -level floods in Chief Marala and Khanki due to the increase in water discharge in the Chenab River. In addition, the high water discharge pressure on the Ravi River in Jastar and Shahdara, and on the Sutlej River in Ganda Singh Wala and Sulemanki.
Shehbaz also directed measures to guarantee early flood warnings for Sindh, asking public representatives and government institutions that guarantee timely evacuation, safe relocation and effective monitoring of help operations.
The number of deaths due to flooding in Pakistan since the monsoon began at the end of June has increased to 802, with half of the deaths registered only this month. According to officials, thousands of people also remained stranded during the last days in the north of the country.
The situation of the flood revives the memories of the devastating floods of 2010, when a fifth of the land of Pakistan was submerged, and the floods of 2014 that mistreated the agricultural belt of Punjab, immersing whole towns along the Chenab River.
(With agencies contributions)
