Sutlej floods dozens of Ganda Singh villages

KASUR/LAFORE: Sutlej River flood inundated dozens of villages in Ganda Singh on Thursday.

Villagers are helping themselves in shifting to safe areas, as the flood wave is passing through Sulemanki Headworks, which is likely to damage crops. The administration of the adjoining districts of Kasur, Okara, Pakpattan, Bahawalnagar and Wahari has been put on high alert due to the further increase in the water level in the river Sutlej. Preparations have been completed to deal with the flood situation in these adjacent districts.

Meanwhile, PDMA DG) Imran Qureshi has said that flood relief activities were going on by the PDMA in the districts adjacent to the Sutlej River.

In a press statement, he said the PDMA was closely monitoring the situation from the control room, while the district emergency operation centers and rural reporting centers across the province were on a high alert.In Kasur district alone, 10 relief camps had been established, with 110 rescuers and 8 ambulances deployed.

The PDMA provided 27 boats, 200 life jackets, 27 life rings, 16 wireless sets and other necessary equipment to aid the rescue teams. As a result of these efforts, 1,218 people had been rescued, and 4,972 individuals had been safely relocated in the Kasur district where 27 animals had also been rescued.

The PDMA provided 12 boats, 52 life rings, and 164 life jackets to assist the rescue teams in Okara. So far, 220 people and 18 animals had been transported to safe areas from the flooded regions, he said.

He mentioned that the floodwater in the Sutlej River receded by 1 foot compared to the previous night, and the flow had reduced from 114,000 cusecs to 104,000 cusecs at Ganda Singhwala.

He highlighted that a flood relief and rescue operation was initiated on July 9, following the instructions of the Punjab government, and it was still ongoing. The floods had impacted a total of 15 villages along the Sutlej River in Kasur, affecting a population of 18,000. Some 11,000 people had been safely relocated and ten relief camps, with a capacity of 3,000 to 5,000 people, had been established in Kasur. Adequate provisions, including clean water and cooked food, had been provided to the residents of these camps. Fortunately, there were no reported deaths in Kasur due to the floods, he said.