More than 80 villages of Chiniot district and 20 villages near Jhang city have been inundated by flood waters from River Chenab. More than 250,000 people have evacuated their homes in Athara Hazari tehsil.
Breaches were made in the embankments of Khanki barrage to save Gujranwala city and Athara Hazari barrage to save Jhang city. Authorities in Multan are considering similar steps to save Multan further downstream.
Army personnel, district authorities and police are taking part in the rescue and relief efforts.
Southern Punjab:
Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) Multan Zone Director Col Ijaz told The Express Tribune that a flood warning had been issued for Multan and Muzaffargarh districts.
“Four companies of the Pakistan Army (600 soldiers) from Multan Corps have been deployed in Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan. Two companies have also been deputed in Muzaffargarh district and one company in Shujaabad,” he said.
“Food bags, rescue boats, trucks for evacuation of residents on river banks have also been dispatched with the troops,” he said.
Multan DCO Zahid Saleem Gondal has been monitoring the relief and rescue activities around Chenab River.
Talking to The Express Tribune, he said that rescue activities were under way. He said 500 policemen had been deployed in the high-risk areas to help evacuate people. “The capacity at Head Muhammadwala is one million cusecs. Hopefully, the volume of the water will be less than that,” he said.
The DCO said that people who had been forced out of their homes were being housed in schools.
Talking to The Express Tribune, Prisons Minister Chaudhry Abdul Waheed Aaraen said that the flood could affect over 100,000 people in Multan district and urged people living in high-risk areas to evacuate their houses.
He said that around 900,000 cusecs water would pass through Head Trimmu on Monday night.
“Over 300,000 cusecs water had passed from barrage last year and caused huge losses. The river will be in high flood over the next few days,” the minister said. He said the district administration had completed the arrangements for rescue and relief.
He said that five companies of Pakistan Army would participate in relief efforts in Multan. He said that the administration was considering making a breach in the embankment near Head Muhammadwala and one at Sher Shah Bridge. “In case of emergency, we will save Multan city by breaching these embankments,” he said. He said that 16 flood relief camps had been already set up.
Flood warning has also been issued in areas of Rahim Yar Khan and Rajanpur districts.
Authorities have set up 21 medical camps in Rahim Yar Khan around the Indus River.
The government has also established four control rooms and monitoring rooms for the floods.
Police have been ordered to evacuate people living in the one kilometre belts on both sides of Chenab River.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 8th, 2014.
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