Sawt Falasteen - Pakistan evacuates half a million people stranded by floods

Three transboundary rivers that cut through Punjab province, which borders India, have swollen to exceptionally high levels, affecting more than 2,300 villages.

Nabeel Javed, the head of the Punjab government's relief services, said 481,000 people stranded by the floods have been evacuated, along with 405,000 livestock.

Overall, more than 1.5 million people have been affected by the flooding.

"This is the biggest rescue operation in Punjab's history," Irfan Ali Khan, the head of the province's disaster management agency, added at a press conference.

He said more than 800 boats and over 1,300 rescue personnel were involved in evacuating families from affected areas, mostly located in rural areas near the banks of the three rivers.

The latest spell of monsoon flooding since the start of the week has killed 30 people, he said, with hundreds left dead throughout the heavier than usual season that began in June.

"No human life is being left unattended. All kinds of rescue efforts are continuing," Khan said.

More than 500 relief camps have been set up to provide shelter to families and their livestock.

In the impoverished town of Shahdara, on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Lahore, dozens of families were gathered in a school after fleeing the rising water in their homes.

"Look at all the women sitting with me -- they're helpless and distressed. Everyone has lost everything. Their homes are gone, their belongings destroyed. We couldn't even manage to bring clothes for their children," 40-year-old cleaner Tabassum Suleman told AFP.

Rains continued throughout Saturday, including in Lahore, the country's second-largest city, where an entire housing development was half submerged by water.

Retired shop owner Sikandar Mughal attempted to access his home but the water was still too high.

"When the situation got worse and the water level reached the garage of my house, I took my bike and ran for my life," the 61-year-old said.

"It's been two days now since I left. I did not even get a chance to get my clothes so that I could change."

In mid-August, more than 400 Pakistanis were killed in a matter of days by landslides caused by torrential rains on the other side of the country, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, close to Afghanistan and the only province held by the opposition to the federal authorities.

In 2022, unprecedented monsoon floods submerged a third of Pakistan, with the southern province of Sindh the worst affected area.

F.Qawasmeh--SF-PST