Thousands evacuated to safer areas across Punjab as Pak's province faces unprecedented flood emergency

Lahore, Aug 27 (PTI) Thousands of people were evacuated to safer areas across Pakistan's Punjab province, which is facing an unprecedented flood emergency owing to a combination of heavy rains and waters released by India from two dams, officials said on Wednesday.

Both Pakistan and India have been ravaged by intense monsoon rains and flooding.

Over 250,000 people from areas along the rivers such as the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej that are facing "exceptionally high floods" have been evacuated so far, officials said.

They said that more than 32,000 people, who were trapped in the floodwater, have been rescued by boats.

India has opened all the gates of its Thein Dam on the Ravi River, prompting the Punjab administration to call in the Pakistan Army in eight districts -- Lahore, Okara, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Narowal, Kasur, Sargodha and Hafizabad -- of Punjab to assist civil authorities in rescue and relief operations, officials said.

Pakistan has received a second warning from India that it intends to release water from the rapidly filling Madhopur Dam, the federal government said. Both dams are on the Ravi River, which flows from India into Pakistan.

On Sunday, India communicated flood warnings to Pakistan through diplomatic channels on "humanitarian grounds".

A day after the Pahalgam terror attack on April 22, India placed the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 in "abeyance". Usually, flood alerts are shared through the Indus Water Commission.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif chaired an emergency meeting on Wednesday to review the situation. He directed authorities to improve early warning systems to ensure timely alerts.

“Relief operations should be further accelerated, and coordination between institutions should be intensified. The process of immediately relocating people living along river passages to safe locations should be made more effective and swift,” Sharif was quoted as saying by Dawn.

Officials said that floodwaters from the Ravi River inundated the Kartarpur Corridor complex, including Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, where the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev lived and died at the start of the 16th century.

"The entire Kartarpur Corridor complex, including Gurdwara Darbar Sahib, has been submerged by high floodwater," Saifullah Khokar, head of the Kartarpur Corridor Project Management Unit, told PTI.  He said more than 100 people, mostly staff members of the Kartarpur Project Management Unit, were trapped in the complex. They are being rescued by boats and a helicopter, he added.

Images and videos circulating on social media show the revered Sikh shrine submerged in floodwaters.

Minister of State for Interfaith Harmony Khel Das Kohistani said the Prime Minister's House was “actively working”, with him and Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal also “making every effort” to rescue the pilgrims and staff at Baba Guru Nanak Kartarpur Corridor.

The Pakistani government opened the Kartarpur Corridor in November 2019, which is around 4.1 kilometres from the Pakistan-India border.

The corridor links Gurdwara Darbar Sahib to the Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab's Gurdaspur district. The corridor provides visa-free access to Indian pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.

According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), 804 people have lost their lives since the start of the monsoon in late June. As many as 7,500 housing structures have been damaged, and 5,500 cattle perished.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Punjab has warned that Chenab at the Qadirabad and Khanki headworks, Ravi at Jassar, and Sutlej at Ganda Singh Wala are in an “exceptionally high flood” condition.

The water outflows at Khanki are recorded at over 1 million cubic feet per second (cusecs) and are “steady”, while the outflows at Qadirabad are over 900,000 cusecs and had a “rising” trend, according to the data shared by the federal government. The outflows at Jassar and Ganda Singh Wala are over 200,000 cusecs, with “falling” flows.

Marala Headworks is also at “very high” flood level, with declining outflows of around 600,000 cusecs. Balloki and Shahdara on Ravi, as well as Suleimanki Headworks at Sutlej, face a medium-level flood. The water outflows in the two Ravi locations are less than 100,000 cusecs, while those at Suleimanki are around 100,000 cusecs.

The headworks of Chashma, Taunsa, Guddu, Sukkur, and Kotri on the Indus River are in “low” flood. Islam Headworks on the Sutlej River is also in low flood. The spillways of Tarbela Dam are to be opened to release water.

The government said some 25,000 people have already been evacuated from the floodplains of Chenab and Ravi alone. The last time such a huge flow of water was seen was nearly 38 to 39 years ago, it said. PTI MZ ZH ZH