Floods continue devastation in Punjab, advance on Sindh

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ISLAMABAD-Floods that already swept through up-country Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Kashmir are now ravaging hundreds of villages in Punjab and threaten Sindh.

The Pakistani Metrological Department August 5 issued a red alert warning of an imminent extreme flood threat in Sindh.

“Analysis of current hydrological data indicates that Sindh, especially areas along the Indus River, would be badly affected due to extremely high flood conditions in Indus River,” the warning reads.

The government has worked to alleviate coming disaster as floods threaten the integrity of the Sukkar and Guddu barrages.

“I am personally monitoring the (Guddu) barrage,” Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah told reporters during a visit to the site early August 5.

The Guddu and Sukkar barrages are the two major water bodies most vulnerable to being breached as flooding advances on Sindh.

“We have taken all measures to secure the barrage. If it's breached, everything will be out of the government’s control,” said Shah.

Low-lying areas of Ghotki, Sukkur, Larkana, Nawabshah, Hyderabad, Naurshero Feroz, Dadu and Kutcha Bundar areas in Sindh will be inundated if the barrages fail, the Federal Flood Commission warned.

Federal State Minister for Information Samsam Bukhari told Central Asia Online the government already has evacuated major populations from areas below the barrages.

Punjab has reported 52 deaths and 140 injuries so far, Bukhari said. The government has established 115 relief camps in different areas and provided 11,000 tents, he said.

Floodwaters have swept away 14,746 houses in Punjab so far and damaged hundreds of thousands more, according to the government.

Before reaching Sindh, floods devastated major areas of Bhakkar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rahim Yar Khan, Layyah, Mianwali, Muzaffar Garh and Rajanpur in the south of Punjab.

“Hundreds of villages have been submerged in more than ten feet of water,” said local journalist Ijaz Tareen. They've also washed away crops from large tracts of farmland.

“You can see only treetops and the uppermost floors of buildings,” Tareen, a resident of Dera Ghazi Khan, told Central Asia Online by phone.

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani August 4 rushed to the Punjabi Mianwali district to oversee rescue and relief operations. This is his second visit to the area in three days.

“I will personally monitor relief activities,” Gilani told state television while visiting the heavily damaged Mianwali district.

The prime minister ordered immediate deliveries of food and tents to flooded areas and acceleration of relief activities. He also renewed the government's call for help to the international community.

Chief Minister Shehbaz Sharif appealed to the federal government for emergency funds, and will suspend the sasti roti (cheap bread) scheme if funds are not provided, a Punjabi government official said.

Sharif is visiting the province's southern districts and monitoring rescue and relief operations daily, Tareen said.

The Meteorological Department has warned the government to expect more rain in the coming week, particularly in Sindh, Bukhari said.

The department is warning too that waters racing down from the Balochistani hills will bloat rivers in the down-country.

“More than seven districts in Sindh are under threat,” said Lt Gen Nadeem Ahmed, Director General National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

“Four helicopters and 95 boats have been deployed in seven districts of Sindh to meet any eventualities,” media quoted Gen Nadeem as saying.

The government has rescued 60,331 victims so far from flooded areas in Punjab, the prime minister's secretariat said.

“We are using boats and helicopters to move stranded villagers in the flooded areas to higher ground,” Gen Nadeem said.

Military helicopters rescued more than 30,000 survivors marooned by flooding in Kot Addu and nearby areas, media reports said, citing military sources.

The Pakistani army has engaged its corps of engineers to repair bridges in the affected areas. Meanwhile, authorities are urging residents of expected flood areas to evacuate.

This year’s total rainfall is exceptionally high, according to the National Weather Forecasting Centre (NWFC).

“We have already received more than 160mm and expecting more,” Muhammad Hanif, chief of the NWFC Islamabad, told Central Asia Online by phone.

The average monsoon total is 137mm, he said. Relief camps have been established in Sindh flood danger zones, Nafeesa Shah, Member National Assembly and head of National Commission for Human Development (NCHD), said.

“We have taken measures to rescue and provide relief ... in several districts of Sindh,” Shah told Central Asia Online by phone from Khairpur district, where she visited various flood relief facilities.