ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province braced for heavy monsoon rains and more cross-border flooding from India on Monday, as officials put the death toll at 33 from deadly deluges that swept the province since last week and triggered mass evacuations.
Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous and rich province, has been dealing with unprecedented floods fueled by abnormally high rains and excess water released by India into the country’s low-lying regions, according to Pakistani officials. The deluges that began last week have killed at least 33 people and displaced 2 million across the province, washing away livestock and crops on large swathes of land. Nationwide, the downpours and floods have killed 854 people since June 26.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) warned on Sunday of the possibility of the floods intensifying with more rains likely in the flood-affected areas of Punjab, urging local administrations to take protective measures in vulnerable areas.
“All relevant departments are on alert due to water being released into the Chenab by India,” Irfan Ali Kathia, the director general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Punjab, said in a statement. “Punjab is monitoring the situation in the rivers round the clock.”
