Lahore, Pakistan (AP) – East Punjab, Pakistan It is dealing with the biggest floods in history, a senior official said on Sunday.
global warming The monsoon rain has been getting worse in Pakistan this year. It’s the most vulnerable New research shows that climate change. The downpour and Cloudburst Over the past few months it has caused flash floods and landslides in the northern and northwest of the mountains.
Residents of eastern Punjab are also experiencing an extraordinary amount of rain. Cross-border flood After India released water from swollen rivers and its overflowing dams into lower regions of Pakistan.
“This is the largest flood in Punjab’s history. The flood has affected 2 million people. This is the first time that Three Rivers (Saturage, Chenab and Rabbi have carried such a high level of water.”
Local authorities were evacuating people and using educational institutions, police and security facilities as rescue camps, she said. Pakistani television channels have shown that people will appear in rescue teams and sail safely through fully submerged farmland. Others stuffed their belongings into the boat, saving what was left of the damaged home, and are now abandoned.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is collecting data on the intentional release of Indian waters to Pakistan,” Auranzeb said. There were no immediate comments from India.
India had warned Pakistan last week about possible floods across the border. Public diplomatic contacts Since then, among rivals The crisis brought them closer to war In May.
With approximately 150 million people living there, Punjab is an important part of the country’s agricultural sector. Pakistan’s major wheat producers. The 2022 ferocious floods wiped out massive crops in the east and south of the country, leading Prime Minister Shebaz Sharif I’ll warn the country I faced a food shortage.
Pakistan’s National Weather Centre figures show that Punjab received 26.5% more monsoon rains from July 1 to August 27 compared to the same period last year.
“We can’t fight or stop water.”
In Multan, authorities installed explosives on five important banks and diverted water from the city, if necessary, prior to the enormous waves along the way from the Chenab River.
Multan Commissioner Amir Kareem Khan said the drones were used to monitor lowland areas and the team tried to persuade residents who had not yet evacuated.
“There’s a lot of water coming – we can’t fight it, we can’t stop it,” said Deputy Commissioner Wasim Hamad Sindhu.
Resident Eman Fatima went to camp after the water surrounded the house.
“Our animals are hungry, and we don’t get food anywhere else,” she said. “We are not sitting here by choice. Our home is in danger. We are very concerned.”
Pakistan’s Disaster Management Bureau said 849 people have been killed and 1,130 have been injured in rain-related incidents since June 26th.
Murad Ali Shah, the prime minister of southern Sindh, said he had directed the irrigation sector to prepare for a “super-flood” of barrage of hell.
“When the water level exceeds 900,000 cusec (cubic feet per second), we call it a super-flood,” Shah told reporters. “We hope that the water will not reach 900,000 levels, but we still need to prepare. The most important thing for us is to save human life and livestock.”
Pakistan’s monsoon season usually lasts until the end of September.
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Associated Press writer Asim Tanveer in Multan, Pakistan contributed to this report.
