Pakistan evacuates over a million as Punjab hit by worst floods in decades

Pakistani authorities have evacuated more than a million people from their homes in Punjab province this week as the worst flooding in nearly 40 years submerged hundreds of villages and vital grain crops.

Torrential monsoon rain and neighbouring India’s release of excess water from its dams swelled three rivers that flow into the eastern province.

Authorities were forced to breach river banks in some areas, flooding more than 1,400 villages, Punjab’s disaster management authority said on Thursday.

Residents of Qadirabad waded through chest-deep water after the River Chenab overflowed.

Officials said flooding has been worsened by the release of water into the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab rivers from Indian dams.

Premier Shehbaz Sharif, who visited the affected areas with federal ministers and Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz, emphasised the urgent need for new water reservoirs to address recurring challenges.

"Unfortunately, Pakistan is one of the 10 countries most affected by climate change. Its impact will grow in the coming years, so we need immediate action to control the situation," he said while speaking at an official meeting.

Punjab, home to half of Pakistan’s people and a key producer of wheat, rice and cotton, has seen at least 12 deaths this week. Nationwide, more than 800 people have died in floods since late June.

The waters of the Chenab threatened early Thursday to burst through a 1,000-metre barrage at Qadirabad that regulates river flow.

Authorities deliberately blew up part of the riverbank to release water onto nearby land and prevent the barrage from collapsing, which would have inundated two towns.

"We have evaded the threat," a provincial disaster management spokesperson said.

By Thursday afternoon, water flow at the barrage had dropped to about 755,000 cusecs, down from nearly one million overnight and closer to its 800,000-cusec capacity.

Officials blamed shifting weather patterns for the severe floods. In 2022, unprecedented monsoon rains killed at least 1,000 people and devastated crops, roads and bridges.

The head of Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Agency, Inam Haider Malik, said this year’s floods came as weather systems from the east, south and west converged.

Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal said the climate crisis "is the new normal."

But, he added, "it isn’t unmanageable."