Sutlej River has been in high flood at Islam Headworks, with 1,51,000 cusecs flow. The flood water has submerged several areas in Vehari, Burewala, Lodhran and Bahawalpur and destroyed standing crops. Sutlej has also been in high flood at Ganda Singh Headworks with present water flow 1,22,000 cusecs, Provincial Disaster Management Authority stated. The water level has been 20.8 feet. The river has been in medium flood at Sulemanki Headworks as water going down at the point with present inflow 96,638 cusecs and outflow 83,720 cusecs, Provincial Disaster Management Authority stated.

 A search has been underway to trace a resident of Chak Pana Mahar, Mohammad Rafique, who was swept away by the flood water. Floodwater released from waterworks in India has drowned a vast area of Sutlej River belt breaking roads and temporary protective dykes across the border in Pakistan. Flooding has wreaked havoc in the region as thousands of acres farmland has drowned and crops destroyed in Kasur, Bahawalnagar, Okara, Pakpattan, Sahiwal and Vehari districts. The area has become a mammoth lake with water everywhere to the limit of the visible landscape and dozens of settlements submerged. An unusual flooding in Sutlej River has wreaked havoc in the area destroying houses and standing crops on thousands of acres. In Bahawalnagar over several villages land link has severed and people waiting for relief from the government agencies.

The administration along with rescue teams and local volunteers engaged in relief operations and 9,980 stranded people have been transferred to safer places. The emergency services on Wednesday said that around 100,000 people have been evacuated from flooded villages in Punjab. Several hundred villages and thousands of acres of cropland in the central province were inundated when the Sutlej River burst its banks. The monsoon rains had prompted authorities in India to release excess reservoir water into the Sutlej River, causing flooding downstream on the Pakistani side of the border.

 
Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP)