Floods displace nearly 250,000 people and affect 1.2 million in eastern Pakistan https://t.co/ZzGKEukHtd https://t.co/Ca2ij0QIP7
Pakistan evacuates a million people as farming belt hit by worst floods in decades https://t.co/1NQaK0Zdkq https://t.co/1NQaK0Zdkq
Pakistan floods force mass evacuations as Sikh holy shrine inundated https://t.co/f1hbH7psMO https://t.co/IBh63dYrRx
Pakistani authorities have moved more than a million residents to safety after torrential monsoon rains and the release of water from upstream Indian dams sent the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab rivers surging through Punjab province, submerging some 1,400 villages and swamping key grain-growing districts. Provincial officials said about 1.2 million people have been affected and nearly 250,000 have been displaced in what they describe as the worst flooding to hit the region in 39 years. Emergency crews breached riverbanks at several points to relieve pressure on the Qadirabad barrage, while army helicopters ferried food and medicine to makeshift shelters. The provincial disaster management authority reported 12 deaths in Punjab this week, bringing Pakistan’s nationwide flood toll to 819 since late June. Floodwaters also inundated the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara, a major Sikh pilgrimage site near the Indian border, and destroyed vast tracts of wheat, rice and cotton crops. Across the border, heavy rainfall triggered flash floods and landslides in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing at least 34 people and cutting highways. Meteorologists warn that further downpours are likely, underscoring how increasingly erratic monsoons—linked by officials to climate change—are battering South Asia’s densely populated river basins.
