As predicted, a massive deluge of water from Sutlej River on Wednesday entered Vehari, causing a high-level flood in the district.
Officials said families waded through water and cattle were loaded onto boats in a mass evacuation of around 100,000 people in the Punjab province.
Many protective small dams set up in various places in the district were unable to withstand the mighty flow of the water and caved in, flooding around 70 villages and scattered settlements.
Hundreds of people and their cattle were trapped in the floodwater and were rescued by the district administration, Rescue 1122 as well the residents on a self-help basis, relocating to safe places.
The flood has forced the closure of 71 government schools across the district.
Thousands of acres of standing crops including cotton, maize, sesame and fodder have been destroyed in the district and the water level is continuing to rise.
According to the district administration’s spokesperson, its rescue operation is under way without any break while 20 flood relief camps and three tent villages have been established.
Vehari Deputy Commissioner Syed Asif Hussain Shah said the district administration was working hard to protect the lives and properties of the residents affected by the flood.
He added that adequate facilities were being provided at the tent villages and flood relief camps.
People with their belongings wade through the flood affected area of Chanda Singh Wala village in Kasur district on August 22, 2023. PHOTO: AFPThe water level at Sutlej’s Islam Headworks is continuously rising. However, there is no threat to Islam Headworks and any government dam yet.
The deputy commissioner said the majority of the residents had been evacuated from the low-lying areas of the district. However, he added that some people had not left their homes despite the announcements and the process of evacuating them safely was under way.
Vehari DPO Essa Khan Sukhera said police and the administration were busy shifting people to safe locations.
He continued that Additional Deputy Commissioner Muhammad Tayyab Khan and Assistant Commissioner Dr Ayesha Khan themselves went to the low-lying areas and rescued residents by boat till late night.
The floodwater has entered mauzas Nuran Afghan, Mehro Baloch, Khachi, Bhindi Jatera, Bhindi Salool, Noon, Lakha Saldira, Rahim Shah, Gul Shah, Basti Jan Muhammad Jamlera, Saldira, and Bet Bhattian.
Many people while migrating from Basti Jan Muhammad Jamlera and Bin Mor were trapped in the water and were rescued after several hours.
Read also: Vehari braces for Sutlej flooding
The flood victims said the majority of the population had migrated before the flood but children and women were trapped in some places. However, they too have also been evacuated with their personal efforts and those of the district administration.
According to the spokesperson for the district administration, the education department has closed about 71 high, middle and primary schools in the flooded areas until further orders.
Flood relief camps were set up in some of these schools. The students of these schools will continue their education at religious seminaries.
"The flood waters came a couple of days ago and all our houses were submerged. We walked all the way here on foot with great difficulty," 29 year-old Kashif Mehmood, who fled with his wife and three children to a relief camp, told AFP on Tuesday.
Rescue boats travelled from village to village over the past several days, collecting people forced to wait on the roofs of their homes as the water level rose around them.
Others pushed their motorcycles through shallower waters or held belongings above their heads until they found dry ground.
This photograph shows an aerial view of the flooded Chanda Singh Wala village in Kasur district on August 22, 2023. PHOTO: AFP
"There is five or six feet [1.5-1.8 metres] of water accumulated over the roads," Muhammad Amin, a local doctor volunteering at a relief camp, told AFP on Tuesday.
"The only route that could have been used to come and go is now under water. This 15- or 16-kilometre route is now being covered by boat so that we can rescue people," he added.
Farooq Ahmad, the spokesperson for the Punjab emergency services, told AFP on Wednesday that they had rescued around 100,000 people and transferred them to safe places.
Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi said monsoon rains had prompted authorities in India to release excess reservoir water into Sutlej River, causing flooding downstream on the Pakistani side of the border.
The summer monsoon brings South Asia 70-80% of its annual rainfall between June and September every year.
It is vital for the livelihoods of millions of farmers and for food security in a region of around two billion people -- but it also brings landslides and floods that lead to frequent evacuations.
More than 175 people have died in Pakistan in rain-related incidents since the monsoon season began in late June, mainly due to electrocution and buildings collapsing, emergency services have reported.
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