Lahore:
Punjab was affected by catastrophic floods launched by heavy rains and aggravated by the liberation of water from India, which prompted the provincial government to call in the army to a massive rescue and rescue operation in several districts.
In extraordinary measures to save lives and protect critical infrastructure, the authorities have deliberately violated a embankment near Qadirabad’s head works on the Chenab river to alleviate the pressure on the structure and reduce the destructive force of water.
Despite the intervention, large areas remain flooded, in particular the Kartarpur Gurdwara, one of the most sacred sites of Sikhism, where flood waters have entered the compound, disturbing the pilgrimage activity and the stranding of dozens before the emergency boats evacuate them.
According to Rescue 1122, at least seven people, including five of the same family, were swept away by flood waters in Sambrial.
The provincial Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said that a slope near the Qadirabad dam on the Chenab river had been violated to mitigate the pressure on the structure.
Rescue operations are underway through Punjab, where flood waters have overwhelmed houses, shops and agricultural land in several districts.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has confirmed that more than 210,000 people had already been moved, with other evacuations planned such as Chenab rivers, delighted and Sutlej swell at dangerous levels.
The Punjab government has requested military assistance from Lahore, Kasur, Sialkot, Faisalabad, Narowal, Okara, Sargodha and Hafizabad. Army units have been deployed to help the evacuations of people and livestock, while the rescue teams were sent to areas subject to floods.
Rising rivers
The reports indicate that the 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 crops standing to the end in the water.
Local administrations have installed temporary emergency camps and started to move residents of the more safe river areas. “We are trying to move people before the waters are getting more,” said a Kasur district official. “Our priority is to save lives first, then livelihoods.”
The assistant commissioners of the Sargodha, Lodhran, Multan and Muzaffargarh districts issued red alerts, warning that record flows could flood dozens of villages and affect thousands of people.
Burewala’s local accounts claim that the waters that increases have violated protective embankments, flooded villages, including Lakhha Saldira, Mianpur and Madher, submerging agricultural land and moving thousands.
In Muzaffargarh, officials have described the current flood wave in the Chenab river as the most important since 2014, warning that nearly 900,000 watercuts of water moved downstream from Marala and could soon strike Rangpur.
The Ministry of Water Resources has warned that exceptionally high flood levels are expected in the coming days, India having opened all the doors of its main dams in Jammu and Kashmir occupied by illegally (iiojk) after heavy rain.
The floods caused serious pilgrimage disruptions to Kartarpur, where the courtyard and the surroundings of Gurdwara were flooded. Officials confirmed that the central sanctuary had remained structurally safe on higher land.
Meanwhile, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has planned heavy strengths through Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and certain parts of Sindh and Ballochistan from August 29 to September 2.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, presiding an emergency meeting in Islamabad, ordered the federal and provincial authorities to ensure early warnings, timely evacuations and uninterrupted rescue supplies in Punjab.
He underlined the need for coordination between NDMA and PDMA to save lives, goods and infrastructure. He also asked for preventive measures in the Sindh, warning that the next few days could cause new overvoltages across the country’s already overloaded river system.
The Prime Minister was informed that there was a risk of high -level flood with the head Marala and Khanki due to the increase in water flow in the Chenab river. In addition, the pressure of high water flow in the Ravi river in Jastar and Shahdara, and in the Sutlej river in Ganda Singh Wala and Sulemanki.
Shehbaz has also directed measures to ensure early anti-infringement warnings for the Sindh, asking public representatives and government institutions to guarantee timely evacuation, safe relocation and effective monitoring of rescue operations.
The number of dead against floods in Pakistan since the start of the monsoon at the end of June has increased to 802 – with half of the deaths recorded this month only. According to officials, thousands of people have also remained blocked in the past few days in the north of the country.
The situation of the floods revives the memories of the devastating super floods of 2010, when one fifth of the land of Pakistan was overwhelmed, and the 2014 floods which beat the punjab agricultural belt, submerging entire villages along the Chenab river.
(With the contribution of agencies)
