Some 100,000 people have been evacuated from flooded villages in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province, local authorities said on Wednesday.
“We have rescued 100,000 people and moved them to safer places,” Punjab emergency services spokesman Farooq Ahmad said.
Several hundred villages in the central-eastern Punjab were submerged by the flooding of the Sutlej River and thousands of hectares of agricultural land, particularly crops, were destroyed.
After being hit by torrential monsoon rains that triggered flooding, India spewed nearly 85,000 cubic meters per second of water from its reservoirs on Sunday, according to Mohsin Naqvi, head of the Punjab government.
This situation caused flooding downstream on the Pakistani side.
The dikes that were supposed to protect the houses failed and hundreds of towns are no longer accessible by road.
Relief operations continue in flooded areas, where authorities have to use boats to shelter men, women, children and livestock.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority has warned that the flooding could get even worse in the coming days as more monsoon rains are expected in this region.
At least 175 people have been killed in Pakistan by floods, building collapses, landslides and other incidents triggered by monsoon rains since late June.
Source: TSF
