Over 6,000 evacuated in last 24hrs after water from Sutlej enters villages
More than 6,000 people and 455 animals were evacuated to safe places in the past 24 hours from different Punjab districts after strong water currents from the Sutlej river entered adjacent areas, rescue services reported on Monday.
On Sunday, peak discharge in Sutlej at Empress bridge was 130,000 cusecs which flooded the settlements of Weaslan, Sahlan and Lal De Goth. The residents had been evacuated along with their livestock well before the breaches occurred but their standing crops were submerged over a vast area.
Flood had also affected Lodhran district’s Kahror Pucca tehsil situated along the other side of the river.
In an update today, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said Ganda Singh Wala, positioned along Sulemanki Headworks, was experiencing medium-level floods at a declining level.
The authority also indicated that the districts currently at risk included Kasur, Okara, Bahawalnagar, Pakpattan, and Vehari.
As the flooding in the Sutlej persists, 254 boats with over 1,000 rescuers were deployed to the flooded areas, according to Rescue Punjab Spokesperson Farooq Ahmad.
He gave a breakdown of the number of people and livestock rescued in various districts of the province over the past 24 hours. According to Ahmad:
- Bahawalpur: 1,263 people, 339 animals evacuated
- Pakpattan: 1,740 people evacuated
- Kasur: 1,519 people, 20 animals evacuated
- Vehari: 1,202 people, 63 animals evacuated
Similar operations are also under way in Multan, Sahiwal, Rajanpur, Khanewal, Bahawalnagar, Layyah, Lodhran and Okara.
According to the rescue service, a total of 112,137 individuals have been evacuated from affected areas and 151,300 have been transported to safer locations from July 9 to August 27.
Relief activities
Earlier in the day, the Punjab Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said areas adjacent to Sutlej had been braving floods since Aug 17.
It stated that 95 medical camps had been set up across the province and were providing medical facilities to people in affected districts. Twenty ambulances were on standby in case of an emergency.
The PDMA highlighted that more than 36,000 people had been provided medical treatment so far. “Apart from that, 178 relief camps are also functioning in the affected districts”.
Meanwhile, an emergency transport facility was provided to more than 200,000 people while around 70,000 affected people were given cooked food.
“Preventive medicine and vaccination was provided to 150,000 cattle while 25,000 animals were moved to safer places,” the PDMA added.
Separately, Punjab Relief Commissioner Nabeel Javed said relief activities would continue until the floods subside.
“All the resources are being used for the rehabilitation of flood-affected areas,” he said. “I am satisfied with the performance of rescue organisations.”
Javed added that there were reports of a reduction in flood water and hoped that the situation would improve in the coming days.
Floods subject to water release from India
A report issued by the Pakistan Meteorological Department’s Flood Forecasting Division today warned that “a fresh wet spell of moderate intensity is likely to start over the upper catchments of all the major rivers from September 2”.
It added that “no high flood situation was expected in any of the major rivers” and “the flows in Sutlej River were subject to release of water from India”.