KARACHI: The peak of a flood in Pakistan’s Indus river has been delayed and is now likely to bring flows of 800,000 cusecs to Guddu Barrage on Sept. 9, the Sindh provincial chief minister said on Sunday, as the eastern Punjab province warned of “extremely high flooding” in Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers.
Heavy monsoon rains and excess water released by Indian dams have caused Punjab’s rivers to swell, triggering floods in the province since late August. At least 56 people have been killed, more than 4,100 villages impacted and over 4.1 million people have been affected, according to the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Director-General Irfan Ali Kathia.
Rains, deluges, landslides and similar incidents have claimed 910 lives nationwide since late June, when the monsoon began in Pakistan. The floodwaters in Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers have now been moving downstream and will reach their peak in the Indus river in the southern Sindh province by Sept. 9, where authorities have evacuated at least 128,000 people.
On Sunday, Sindh CM Murad Ali Shah said district commissioners have been asking residents of riverine areas to vacate their homes and move to safer locations as the flood peak is likely to displace more than 320,000 people, adding that provincial ministers are present on both right and left banks of the Indus to directly supervise evacuations.
