ISLAMABAD: Rescue officials continued to evacuate residents from vulnerable areas in Pakistan’s Punjab province amid high level of flooding in the Sutlej River on Saturday, Pakistani state media reported.
The river, traversing both northern India and Pakistan, has witnessed a significant surge in water level following New Delhi’s release of hundreds of thousands of cusecs from reservoirs due to the ongoing monsoon season.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said the river had turned fierce at Ganda Singh Wala Barrage and Islam Headworks, threatening Kasur, Okara, Bahawalnagar, Pakpattan and Vehari districts.
An operation to relocate residents of vulnerable areas to safer places continues in full swing, with officials visiting flood-hit areas to review relief activities.
“The district administration would ensure all possible relief to the people of flood-hit areas,” the state-run APP news agency quoted Deputy Commissioner (DC) Omer Jahangir as saying, following his visit to affected areas near Multan.
DC Jahangir was accompanied by City Police Officer (CPO) Mansoor-ul-Haq Rana, who reviewed the rescue activities carried out by the police.
“Police and district administration [are] shifting people to safe places,” Rana said. “All possible resources were being utilized to protect lives and properties of the masses.”
Pakistan is currently witnessing monsoon rains that began in late June. The showers have triggered flash floods in several areas and claimed 213 lives so far this year, according to the NDMA.
Authorities have successfully evacuated around 250,000 people to safer places, and mobilized hundreds of boats and rescue personnel to assist the administration in rescue efforts.
The rains have returned a year after climate-induced downpours swelled rivers and inundated at one point a third of the South Asian country, killing 1,739 people. The floods also caused $30 billion in damage in cash-strapped Pakistan in 2022.
