Flood in River Sutlej: Rescuers evacuate 318,674 affectees from July so far

LAHORE: Rescuers evacuated and transported as many as 318,674 flood affectees from 6th July to 11th September during the unprecedented flood in River Sutlej.

The Secretary, Emergency Services Department Dr Rizwan Naseer appreciated the rescuers who performed day and night duty during the unprecedented flood in River Sutlej.

In the flood review meeting, the Provincial Monitoring Cell (PMC) informed that now no evacuations or transportations had been reported from Multan, Lodhran or Bahawalpur as the water level has gone down. It was informed that starting from Kasur to Bahawalpur Rescue 1122 deployed 423 boats and 1668 rescuers.

The PMC further informed that 318,674 flood affectees were rescued including 18,002 animals from 6th July to 11th September, 2023. The highest number of evacuation and transportation 165,131 were carried out in Kasur, 31,104 in Pakpattan, 23,398 in Okara, 20,039 in Vehari and 61,000 people were evacuated and transported to safer places from flood-prone areas.

During this flood 7,048 animals were shifted from inundated catchment areas of Sutlej River to safe places in Kasur, 3,261 in Bahawalpur, 2,109 in Vehari, 1,007 in Pakpattan and 4,577 animals were shifted to safer places from flood-prone areas in remaining districts.

The secretary ESD stated that timely evacuation during recent flood and restricting people from going back to inundated areas by the district administration helped in preventing loss of life. Therefore, during the second spell of unprecedented flood in River Sutlej, only eight deaths were reported.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023