����ֱ��

LAHORE/SRINAGAR: Pakistan’s eastern towns of Chiniot and Hafizabad face a risk of catastrophic floods if an irrigation barrage crumbles on a major river upstream after heavy rains swelled it beyond capacity, officials warned on Thursday.
Nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan are battling torrential monsoon rains that have unleashed flash floods, swelled rivers and filled dams, with 60 deaths this month in Indian Kashmir, and Pakistan’s toll at 805 since late June.
Any flooding blamed on India stands to inflame relations between the archfoes, embroiled in a tense stand-off since a brief conflict in May that was their worst fighting in decades.
The waters of the Chenab river in Pakistan’s sprawling province of Punjab threatened to burst through a 3,300-foot (1,000-m) concrete barrage at Qadirabad that regulates flows, siphoning them into a canal irrigation network.
“It is a crisis situation,” said a technical expert at the National Disaster Management Authority, adding that the collapse of the barrage could wash away the towns, home to more than 2.8 million.
“Under the constant supervision of experts and administration, the water level is receding, but it is still not beyond danger levels,” added the official, who sought anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The threat comes as India’s release of excess water this week from its dams swelled river flows downstream in its neighbor’s breadbasket province of Punjab, home to half the population of 240 million.
Authorities said Pakistan evacuated more than 210,000 villagers near the rivers Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab that flow in from India, where heavy rain battered the northern region of Jammu, killing 60 people this month.
India routinely releases water from its dams when they get too full, with the excess flowing into Pakistan, accompanied by warnings from New Delhi, which calls them a humanitarian measure.
On Thursday, Pakistani officials said India passed on its third flood warning since Sunday, this time for the Sutlej, while the previous two concerned waters heading into Pakistan on the Ravi.
India’s water resources ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the matter.
More than 900,000 cusec of water passed through the Qadirabad distribution structure on the Chenab river, or 100,000 cusec in excess of its capacity, the provincial disaster management authority said.
A cusec is a flow of volume equivalent to one cubic foot, or 28 cubic liters, every second.
On Wednesday, authorities blew up part of the riverbank to release some water before it reached the barrage.
Twelve people had been killed this week in Punjab, said Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in the provincial government.
“As one nation, we will face this challenge together,” said Aurangzeb, standing on the banks of the swollen Ravi. “There is no need to panic.”
The waters of Pakistan’s eastern rivers join those of northern rivers in Punjab in the giant Indus river, to flow through the province of Sindh before emptying into the sea.
On the other side of the border, Himalayan river levels began to recede after days of heavy rains that triggered landslides and flooding in both countries, with forecasters expecting downpours to subside from Thursday.

ABUJA: A cholera outbreak in Bukkuyum district of Zamfara state, northwest Nigeria, has claimed at least eight lives and infected over 200 people across 11 communities, residents and local officials said on Thursday, as limited health care access and insecurity exacerbate the crisis.
Cholera, a water-borne disease, is not uncommon in Nigeria where health officials cite widespread shortages of clean water in rural areas and urban slums.
The affected rural communities, including Nasarawa-Burkullu, Gurusu, and Adabka, have been overwhelmed, with many patients treated at home due to the lack of primary health care facilities.
“We have over 21 patients presently admitted, although three died due to delays in reaching Nasarawa General Hospital,” Muhammad Jibci, village head of Gurusu told Reuters by phone late on Thursday.
Ya’u Umar, another resident from the affected communities, said 53 people were infected in his village. “We don’t have medicine or drips. Bandits prevent us from going to the city,” he said.
Zamfara is the epicenter of attacks by armed men, known locally as bandits, where rising violence in recent months have made travel and farming dangerous. Gangs routinely abduct villagers and travelers for ransom and extort farming communities.
Sulaiman Abubakar Gumi, a federal lawmaker, called for urgent action from the Zamfara government and international NGOs. “Any delay will cost more lives, especially among women and children,” he said, urging the deployment of emergency response teams, and cholera treatment centers.
Zamfara health authorities have yet to issue an official statement on the outbreak.