Dadu: Pakistan Army, district authorities build barrier to save power station from flooding

Pakistan Army and authorities of Dadu district on Monday built a barrier around the Dadu Grid Station in a bid to save it from flooding, reported Radio Pakistan.

On Sunday, flash flooding posed a renewed threat in Sindh as the flood water was on the verge of entering Dadu Grid Station, which supplies electricity to millions of people in the vicinity.

Authorities raced to build a barrier near the building in a bid to block water from entering it. Flooding inside the power station would have triggered power outages, electrocution and damaged the energy infrastructure of the country, Radio Pakistan reported.

Dadu grid station faces flood threat

Pakistan Army Engineers Corps constructed a 2.4-kilometre embankment around the grid station thus saving it from flooding.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif took notice of the possible threat to the 500-KV grid station in Dadu and directed authorities to utilise all resources to protect the power grid.

“For uninterrupted power supply, the protection of grid station is necessary,” he said.

Dadu District Commissioner Syed Murtaza Ali Shah said "90% of the Dadu district is inundated, Dadu town is still under threat. We are trying to protect it."

He added that the government had provided all the machinery and material required to build a dike.

Pakistan to breach main highway to protect town of Dadu from floods

There are at least three points in Dadu district where the Indus Highway is submerged, with traffic suspended for weeks, while Pakistan's other highway connecting the north and south has also been badly hit by the flood waters.

"All the other floods hit parts of the country are going in(to) rehabilitation phase, but we are still on our toes until and unless these flood waters, hill torrents ... finally pass," Shah said.

On Monday, floodwaters from Manchar Lake inundated Mian Yaar Mohammad Kalhoro in the Dadu district. Many other villages are at threat of being submerged.

Authorities plan to breach the Indus Highway to allow water to flow and prevent flooding in the town of Dadu.

Floods from a record monsoon and glacial melt in the north of Pakistan have impacted 33 million people and killed at least 1,391, washing away homes, roads, railways, livestock, and crops.

Pakistan estimates the cost of the damage at $30 billion, and both the government and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres have blamed the flooding, extreme weather and resulting devastation on climate change.

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