Authorities in flood-hit Pakistan strategically breached the country’s largest freshwater lake on Sunday, a minister said, displacing up to 100,000 people from their homes but sparing the most densely populated areas from collecting of water
Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountains have led to floods that have affected 33 million people and killed at least 1,290, including 453 children. The flooding, attributed to climate change, is still spreading.
Lake Manchar, which is used for water storage, had already reached dangerous levels and the rising pressure posed a threat to surrounding areas in the country’s southern Sindh province, the Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro.
He said around 100,000 people would be affected by the breach in five councils, but it would help save more populous groups and also help reduce water levels in other worst-hit areas.
“By inflicting the breach, we have tried to save Sehwan town. The water levels in Johi and Mehar towns in Dadu district would go down with this breach in the lake,” Shoro told Reuters on Sunday.
Makeshift tents for people displaced by floods are seen Sunday in Pakistan’s Balochistan province. (Fida Hussain/AFP/Getty Images)
It was not clear how many of the 100,000 asked to leave their homes would actually do so.
Some displaced by the floods have complained that shelters are overcrowded, while others are reluctant to leave their possessions.
Apart from the historic rains, southern Pakistan has had to deal with increased flooding as a wave of water moved down the Indus River.
The country has already received almost triple the 30-year average rainfall in the quarter to August, with a total of 390.7 millimetres. Sindh province, with a population of 50 million, was the hardest hit, with 464% more rain than the 30-year average.
Being downstream of the Indus River, the southern parts of the country have been witnessing the rising river waters flowing from the north. Pakistan’s limited dams and reservoirs are already overflowing and cannot be used to stem downstream flows.
Pedestrians cross a section of road destroyed by water in the Kalam Valley in northern Pakistan on Sunday. (Sherin Zada/The Associated Press)
The Tarbela Dam, in the north-west, has been at capacity for weeks, according to data from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
Downstream in Sindh, barrages are under pressure with the Indus River at high flood level, the NDMA said in its latest situation report.
More rain is expected
Authorities also braced for more rain in the north over the next few days until Tuesday.
“The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has forecast that weak monsoon currents from the Arabian Sea are penetrating the upper and central parts of the country which subsequently cause rain-wind/thunderstorms,” the NDMA said in an advisory.
He warned local administrations to be on a heightened state of alert and to restrict vehicular movement in areas prone to flash floods and landslides, as well as those near water channels.
He said some northern populations could be at risk and advised “timely evacuation”.
The overnight death toll from the floods rose to 25, of which 12 were children, according to an update by the NDMA. The United Nations children’s agency UNICEF said there was a risk of “many more” child deaths from disease.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday appealed to UNICEF and other global agencies to help control child deaths.
“As Pakistan grapples with one of the worst climate-induced calamities, among the hardest hit are children,” Sharif said on Twitter.
On Sunday, flights carrying aid from UNICEF, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates landed in Pakistan.