ISLAMABAD: At least 33 people have been killed due to torrential rains and floods in Pakistan’s Punjab this week, a disaster agency official said on Sunday, as authorities ramp up rescue and relief activities with nearly 750,000 citizens evacuated to safer locations as deluges devastate the eastern province.
Punjab, Pakistan’s most prosperous province and agricultural heartland, has been hit hard this week by floods triggered by heavy monsoon showers and excess water released by upstream India.
Monsoon rains have wreaked devastation nationwide, killing at least 831 people and injuring 1,121 others since June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). Punjab has reported 191 deaths in that period, second only to northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), which has recorded 480 fatalities. Sindh has reported 58 deaths, Gilgit-Baltistan 41, Azad Kashmir 29, Balochistan 24 and Islamabad eight.
Punjab’s flooding crisis comes amid what the Met Office described as the ninth spell of monsoon rains, expected to continue until Sept. 2, as authorities struggle to provide food, medical aid and protection to citizens in all districts of the province affected by dangerously rising water levels in rivers Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej. This is the first time in Pakistan’s history, officials say, that the three major rivers are in a ‘super glood’ state simultaneously.
“As per the latest deaths reported, the total number of flood-related deaths has risen to 33 [this week],” Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Director General Punjab Irfan Ali Kathia told reporters at a news briefing.
He said nearly 750,000 people had been evacuated from high-risk flood areas to safer locations while at least 2,200 villages in Punjab and over two million people had been affected by the floods, warning that both numbers were continuing to rise.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz separately wrote on social media platform X that the province was reaching out to every person in the province via rescue and relief activities.
“The result is 746,664 human evacuations and close to 500,000 animal/livestock evacuations in just a few days,” she wrote.
The NDMA’s latest daily report said since late June, 8,986 houses have been reported damaged across Pakistan, 2,093 fully destroyed and 6,893 partially damaged. It also recorded the loss of more than 6,100 livestock, damage to 661 kilometers of roads and 238 bridges nationwide.
Officials noted that Punjab’s daily situation report for Aug. 30 had not yet been received, meaning the true scale of destruction in the hardest-hit province may be higher.
The NDMA also announced on Sunday that it had begun dispatching emergency ration supplies to Punjab’s flood-hit districts, working alongside provincial authorities and the private sector.
Relief convoys carrying food packages were sent to Wazirabad and Hafizabad, while aid had already reached Narowal and Sialkot, with deliveries to Chiniot and Jhang in preparation.
Each ration bag weighs 46 kilograms and contains 22 essential items, the agency said, adding that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had directed it to scale up assistance in coordination with provincial governments.
WATER LEVELS RISE
Briefing the media about surging water levels in Pakistan’s rivers, Kathia warned that a flow of around 900,000 cusecs was passing through the Chenab river in the eastern Jhang district, creating a critical situation.
He said a potentially dangerous situation could develop at Islam Headworks on the Sutlej river within the next few hours as the flow of water had exceeded 100,000 cusecs at Head Sulemanki.
He added that the Ravi river had already experienced a discharge of 200,000 cusecs of water while at Balloki, the water level was recorded at 211,000 cusecs with an additional 20,000 cusecs flowing from Nankana Sahib.
The PDMA has previously reported that India’s Bhakra Dam is currently 84 percent full, Pong 94 percent, and Thein 92 percent, raising concerns of further cross-boundary water surges. Pakistan has repeatedly accused India of releasing excess flows into downstream rivers during monsoon peaks, intensifying flood risks in Punjab’s agricultural belt.
Officials have warned that the flood threat is likely to spread further south, with the NDMA cautioning that the Indus River at Guddu and Sukkur barrages is expected to reach very high flood levels between Sept. 4–5.
