Several areas of Sindh remained submerged in floodwaters as authorities continued efforts to protect Sehun’s Bhan Syedabad city and Dadu city from possible flooding.
Dadu Deputy Commissioner (DC) Syed Murtaza Ali Shah told Dawn.com that work on the ring-band to protect Dadu city continued on Tuesday morning.
MPA Pir Mujeebul Haq, elected from Dadu constituency PS 74, said that heavy machinery is being installed to raise the dam. He said that the flood water was estimated at a distance of six kilometers from Dadu city in the morning.
MNA Rafiq Jamali, elected from Dadu Constituency NA 235, said that work is also underway to strengthen the safety dam of the Main Nara Valley Drain.
MNA Sikandar Ali Rahopoto, elected from constituency NA 233 of the area, said that in Sehun, efforts are on to save Bhan Syedabad city.
“The situation where the ring band is located was bad at night due to strong winds and waves, but now it has returned to normal,” he said, adding that the work on the ring band at Bhan Syedabad was about to be completed. Machinery is being used for this.
According to Assistant Commissioner of Sehun, Iqbal Hussain, 450 villages of seven union councils of the tehsil were submerged by the water of Manchhar Lake.
He said that relief activities are going on in the area and flood affected people are being shifted to safer places. “We have set up more than 50 relief camps and tent cities,” he added.
Sindh is where record monsoon rains and floodwaters from snowmelt in the mountainous north and mountain streams from Balochistan have met and wreaked havoc, leaving a trail of death and destruction elsewhere.
Lake Manchar – said to be the country’s largest freshwater lake – has been the main source of danger, prompting authorities to divert water flow to less populated areas and improve its dams and dams to prevent flooding. It has forced the demolition of other structures along its routes. In densely populated areas.
Meanwhile, Irrigation Emergency Cell In Charge Sher Muhammad Mallah told Dawn.com that the water level in Manchhar was recorded at 122.6-foot reduced level (RL) on Tuesday morning and the water level in the Indus River was at 127.4-foot RL at the Dadu-Moro bridge.
The river’s water level was recorded at 109.5-foot RL at the Amri bridge, he added.
Irrigation Engineer Mahesh Kumar said water from Manchhar was being discharged into the Indus at RD-96, RD-99, RD-98, RD-199 and Karampur and the flow of water was recorded at 50,000 cusecs.
The Flood Forecasting Division’s website showed there was a high-level flood in the Indus at Kotri.
Farmers running low on fodder
Farmers in several villages of Sindh have braved the rising waters to stay on and try to keep alive their remaining cattle.
Those stranded by unprecedented floods were running low on feed for their cattle, officials said on Tuesday, as airdropping supplies proved a difficult task.
“It is a serious issue,” an army official told Reuters. “Airdrops would not work, but it is important that fodder be supplied to livestock.”
The situation is set to worsen as weather officials have warned of more rain in the next few days, posing a fresh threat to thousands of displaced people living in tents or in the open alongside highways.
Officials estimate about 700,000 cattle have been lost in the floods nationwide, and the rest, which form a critical asset in a poor country, are growing thin for lack of food.
Repair updates
Unprecedented rains and flashfloods have affected around 33 million people across the country, caused economic losses estimated at $30 billion and resulted in one of the deadliest monsoons that Pakistan has witnessed so far, claiming almost 1,400 lives.
Authorities have now begun the reconstruction of damaged structures.
According to an update by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), work for the restoration of roads and electricity supply to flood-affected areas has been ongoing on an emergency basis, on the directives of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.
The PMO said in a tweet that the premier was himself monitoring the repair work and a report was being submitted to him on a daily basis.
So far, sections of Gwadar-Ratodero Motorway (M-8) had been opened for one-way traffic and landslide-hit Wango Hill had been cleared.
Moreover, a 132-kilowatt transmission line had been repaired in Timergara and operations had resumed at Bajaur and Munda grid stations.
Bhan Syedabad was being supplied electricity from alternative sources and Warrah was being supplied electricity from the Qambar grid station, the PMO said.
وزیر اعظم محمّد شہباز شریف کی خصوصی ہدایت پر سیلاب زدہ علاقوں میں سڑکوں اور بجلی کی بحالی کا کام ہنگامی بنیادوں جاری. وزیر اعظم بحالی کے کاموں کو خود سے مانیٹر کر رہے ہیں; اس حوالے سے انھیں روزانہ کی بنیاد پر رپورٹ پیش کی جا رہی ہے.
— Prime Minister's Office (@PakPMO) September 13, 2022
