MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Floodwaters that had threatened a major town in eastern Punjab province began to recede Friday, sparing its 700,000 residents, but rising waters swamped villages near two nearby cities, forcing panicked evacuations, Pakistani officials said.
The Disaster Management Authority said waters around Jalalpur Pirwala, which had touched the official danger mark, are now falling and are expected to drop significantly within 48 hours.
But rescue workers were racing to evacuate families
from Shujaabad and Liaquatpur, where swollen rivers submerged surrounding villages.
Flooding last week inundated dozens of villages near Jalalpur Pirwala, displacing tens of thousands of people.
Many from the city fled when authorities warned that raging water from the Sutlej and Chenab rivers was heading toward the region and could completely submerge Jalalpur Pirwala.
The flooding triggered by heavy rains and water released from dams in India has inundated more than 4,000 villages, displaced 2.4 million people, affected more than 4.5 million, and killed nearly 100 people across Punjab since last month, according to the authority.
“We hope that within 48 hours, the floodwaters of the Chenab and Sutlej rivers will recede further, enabling displaced people to return,” said Mazhar Hussain, a spokesman for the authority.
He said deluges are now heading toward southern Sindh province, which was the scene of catastrophic flooding in 2022, when climate-induced rains and flooding killed 1,739 people across Pakistan.
Misery for the displaced people living in the relief camps and under the sky appeared to have started easing in Jalalpur Pirwala after Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif dispatched ministers, including a senior minister from her Cabinet, Marriyum Aurangzeb, to oversee rescue and relief operations.
Sharif also visited flood-hit Liaqatpur on Friday, where she praised rescue and disaster management teams and ordered that life jackets and life rings be made mandatory in all rescue operations.
Her order came after 18 people were killed in overturning of two evacuation boats this week in flood-hit districts of Jalalpur Pirwala and Rahim Yar Khan.
Residents on Friday praised Aurangzeb for helping ease their ordeal and ensuring a steady supply of food, medicines and other essential items.
However, displaced families are urging the government to allow them to keep their tents once the water subsides, saying they will need shelter while they repair or rebuild homes.
“I never thought the water would inundate my village,” said Naseem Mai, 50, who recalled fleeing with her children when the water rose to the rooftops. “We escaped with only the clothes we were wearing,” she told The Associated Press.
Mai and other displaced people complained of shortages of clothing and basic supplies. Many women, they said, wash and reuse the only clothes they have.
Survivors said that in the early days of the flood, private boat owners demanded steep fees, even charging for infants.
Aurangzeb told residents in Jalalpur Pirwala that the government has deployed additional boats and no one would be left behind. “We will ensure that we rescue each and every person,” she said.
Since late June, flooding has killed more than 950 people across Pakistan.
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Dogar reported from Lahore, Pakistan.
