Floods in Punjab kill 30, half a million people evacuated as Indus threat rises

ISLAMABAD: At least 30 people have been killed and more than 1.5 million affected as high floods in the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers submerged over 2,300 villages across Pakistan’s breadbasket province of Punjab this week, the provincial disaster management authority (PDMA) said on Saturday.

The deluge, driven by record monsoon rains and water releases from upstream India, has inundated swathes of Pakistan’s most populous province, crippling rescue and relief operations and forcing the evacuation of nearly half a million people. Officials said nearly half a million residents had been evacuated to safer areas, while millions more remained affected through damaged homes, livestock losses and flooded farmland.

Officials now warn that the flood threat is likely to spread further south, with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) cautioning that the Indus River at Guddu and Sukkur barrages is expected to reach very high flood levels between September 4–5.

According to the NDMA’s most recent monsoon toll, more than 830 people have died across Pakistan since June 26.

“Due to severe flooding in rivers Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab, 2,308 villages have been affected,” Punjab Relief Commissioner Nabeel Javed said in a statement released by the PDMA.