Southern Pakistani city spared as flood waters begin to recede

A TORRENT of water threatening to deluge a city in flood-hit Pakistan has begun to recede, officials said yesterday, as emergency workers plugged a breach in defences against the swollen Indus river.

Pakistani troops and workers were on a “war footing” over the weekend, battling to save the southern city of Thatta after most of the 300,000 population fled the advancing waters.

“The breach near Thatta has been half-plugged and fortunately the flood has also changed its course and is moving away from the city and populated areas,” senior city official Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro said. “The water is flowing into the sea and its level is receding, and many people are returning to their homes.”

The Pakistan Meteorological Department said inflows at the nearby Kotri barrage were receding, but maintained its “significant” flood forecast.

The Flood Forecasting Centre said the Indus river at Kotri would “continue in exceptionally high flood level” for another 24 hours.

Torrential monsoon rain has triggered massive floods that have moved steadily from north to south over the past month, engulfing a fifth of the volatile country and affecting 17 million of Pakistan’s 167 million people.

Southern Sindh is the worst-affected province, with 19 of its 23 districts ravaged as floodwaters swell the raging Indus river to 40 times its usual volume.

One million people have been displaced over the past few days alone and hundreds of thousands fled Thatta ahead of the approaching torrents.

Kalhoro said the low-lying town of Sujawal, near Thatta, was flooded on Sunday and almost the entire population of about 100,000 had evacuated, with power supplies cut and some residents waiting on the roofs of their homes for rescue boats.

“We estimate there are still up to 400 people in Sujawal and the surrounding villages and they are being rescued by boats.”

The government has been overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disaster with millions in need of tents, food and medicines.

Aid agencies are worried about the risk of malnutrition and water-borne disease, with children especially vulnerable.