ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s southern Sindh province is bracing for potentially catastrophic flooding as swollen rivers from the north rush downstream, the provincial government said on Tuesday, urging vulnerable riverbank communities to move to relief camps as authorities reinforced embankments along the Indus, the country’s longest river.
The alert comes after weeks of record monsoon rains across Punjab, Pakistan’s agricultural heartland, where millions of people have already been displaced by torrents from the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers. Floodwaters from those rivers are now merging into the Indus in Sindh, threatening farmland, villages, and major towns. Releases from Indian dams on the Sutlej have added to the flows, with authorities in New Delhi easing pressure on swollen reservoirs during heavy rains.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has warned of a new spell of rain in Sindh and neighboring Balochistan, with risks of severe urban flooding in Karachi, Hyderabad, and Sukkur as well as flash floods in mountain catchments.
Officials say the Sindh government has made preparations for a “super flood” and is reinforcing weak embankments after inspecting defenses at barrages along the Indus.
