ISLAMABAD/LONDON - The monster monsoon floods across the country on Friday continued claiming more lives and inflicting losses to property as the total death count in various incidents reached 1,208 with 19 more deaths in past 24 hours and 1,256 individuals got injured since the onset of the rainy season. More than one third of Pakistan is underwater, according to satellite images from the European Space Agency (ESA), as deadly floodwaters threaten to create secondary disasters.
The new satellite images taken by the European Space Agency (ESA) show that a third of Pakistan is now under water. The European Space Agency (ESA) released stark images based on data captured by its Copernicus satellite. The images appear to confirm the Pakistani government`s assessment that more than a third of the country, an area roughly the size of the UK has been submerged by monsoon rainfall, estimated to have been 10 times more severe than usual, the report said.
“The Indus River has overflowed, effectively creating a long lake, tens of kilometres wide,” ESA said in a statement. The floods have claimed more than more than 1,200 lives, including 399 children, destroyed more than a million homes and swept away crops, livestock and major infrastructures such as roads and bridges.
Food is in short supply after water covered millions of acres of crops and wiped out hundreds of thousands of livestock. Meanwhile, aid agencies have warned of an uptick in infectious diseases, leaving millions vulnerable to illness caused by what the United Nations has called a “monsoon on steroids.”
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) Friday issued a 24-hour situation report released on routine basis that accounted overall life, property, and infrastructure losses incurred by the heavy rains lashing out various parts of the country.
The maximum deaths were recorded in Sindh where 12 people died alongwith nine injured including a man and female died in Sanghar, two women and three children in Shaheed Benazirabad, two children drowned in stagnant water in Tando Allahyar, two children drowned in flood water in Dadu, one child died in Naushahro Feroze.
The heavy rains and flash floods caused deaths of three women and injured two children of Balochistan whereas further details were to follow.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, four people perished due to house collapse in various districts including a man and a woman in Lower Dir, a man in Chitral, and a man in South Waziristan.
However, two people were reported as injured including two men in Lower Dir due to house collapse.
In Balochistan, three routes were blocked due to landslides and high flow of water including the M-8: (100–140 km) as land sliding occurred in 24 Km Long section of Wangu hills, N-65 Pinjra Bridge (Bolan River) 45 meter span washed out by flash floods and N-35 blocked at 3 locations KM 288 (Zaid Khar Nalla) Upper Kohisitan.
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, two connectivity routes were blocked including N-95: (Madyan) blocked at Behrain - Laikot (27 km) and Laikot – Kalam (8km), N-50 was open for traffic except breached section of Sagu bridge whereas preparation of approaches on both sides of Sagu bridge was in process.
The railway tracks blocked in Balochistan include Quetta to Taftan, Balochistan – Sindh’s Quetta to Sibbi to Habibkot, in Punjab- Sindh Hyderabad to Rohri to Multan and in Sindh Kotri to Lakhi Shah to Dadu were submerged underwater.
‘MEDIUM, HIGH LEVEL FLOOD’
The Flood Forecasting Division has predicted medium to high level flooding in River Indus (downstream Taunsa) from September 4-6 due to expected heavy rainfall in the catchment areas. According to daily Federal Flood Commission report on Friday, at present, River Indus was flowing in “high flood” in Guddu-Sukkur Reaches and in “medium flood” at Taunsa & Kotri. Flood flows in River Kabul (a tributary of River Indus) at Nowshera have receded considerably where it was flowing in “low flood”.
Other main Rivers of Indus River System i.e Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi & Sutlej continues to flow with Normal discharges.
Present combined live storage of Tarbela, Chashma & Mangla Reservoirs is 9.646 MAF (i.e. 71.646 % of 13.461 MAF. Weak seasonal low continues to prevail over Northeastern Balochistan and adjoining areas while weak moist currents from Arabian Sea are penetrating into upper parts of Pakistan upto 3000 feet during the next 24 hour.
For the ensuing 24 hours, FFD, Lahore has predicted mainly dry weather over most parts of the country, however has also predicted isolated thunderstorm/rain over upper catchments of all the major rivers of Indus River System.
‘RESCUE OPERATIONS’
Pakistan Army Aviation during flood relief efforts flew 200 helicopter sorties in various areas of the country to evacuate stranded people and also transport rations and medicines. According to a press release, ISPR said during past 24 hours, some 1,991 stranded individuals were evacuated and 162.6 tonnes of relief items were delivered to flood affected people. So far, over 50,000 individuals were shifted to safer locations from calamity hit areas. However, some 147 relief camps were functional round the clock in flood affected areas of Sindh, Southern Punjab, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Over 60,000 patients were treated and provided 3-5 days’ free medicine so far whereas 221 flood relief items collection points were established across the country.
Moreover, more than 1,350 tonnes of food, medicines and other sustenance items were also collected.
‘THREE MILLION CHILDREN AT RISK’
More than three million children are in need of humanitarian assistance and at increased risk of waterborne diseases, drowning and malnutrition due to the most severe flooding in Pakistan’s recent history, UNICEF warned on Friday.
UNICEF is working with government and non-government partners to respond to the urgent needs of children and families in affected areas, said a news release issued here.
Some 33 million people - including approximately 16 million children - have been affected by this year’s heavy monsoon rains in Pakistan, which have brought devastating rains, floods and landslides. Over 1,100 people including over 350 children have lost their lives, and a further 1,600 have been injured.
Over 287,000 houses have been fully, and 662,000 partially, destroyed. Some major rivers have breached their banks and dams overflowed, destroying homes, farms and critical infrastructure including roads, bridges, schools, hospitals and public health facilities.
“When disasters hit, children are always among the most vulnerable,” said Abdullah Fadil, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan. “These floods have already taken a devastating toll on children and families, and the situation could become even worse