Thousands of people today fled a city in central Pakistan threatened by two swollen rivers as aid organisations raced to provide food and much-needed supplies to over 14 million people affected by the country's worst floods.
People continued to pour out of Muzaffargarh city in Punjab province, where authorities issued a flood warning yesterday after the Indus and Chenab rivers burst through protective bunds.
People put their belongings on bullock and donkey carts and left the city along with cattle and livestock.
Thousands of people made their way to relief camps, seeking food, clean water and other supplies.
The road connecting Muzaffargarh and Layyah was closed after cracks appeared in several canals. An army battalion was deployed in the area for relief operations.
Five persons, including two engineers of a state-run telecom company, were washed away by flood waters in Taunsa Sharif area of Punjab.
A high alert was sounded after floods damaged a dyke near Khanewal.
In Balochistan, the deluge damaged a dyke in Jafarabad district and over 300 houses in Harnai district. In southern Sindh province, the level at Guddu Barrage fell from yesterday’s high mark of 1.4 million cusecs though the level at Sukkur Barrage continued to be high at 1.1 million cusecs.
However, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority of Sindh warned the Indus river is expected to be at "a very high to exceptionally high flood level, ranging between 600,000 cusecs to 800,000 cusecs on August 10 and 11".
In such a scenario, the river is expected to inundate low-lying areas of Thatta district and adjoining areas.
In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province in the northwest, the military and aid organisations scrambled to provide food, water and healthcare to millions of affected people after weather improved in the region.
Officials said 50 more deaths had been recorded in the region since the weekend. Nearly 1,700 people have died in the worst floods to hit Pakistan since 1929.
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs today said the floods had affected 14.04 million people, including six million children. Of the affected people, 1.8 million were homeless.
"Needs are higher than those that followed the 2005 earthquake, and far more widespread across the country. Shelter is the most urgent need, while food, water, and health care are also crucial," the UNOCHA said in a statement.
Aid has been provided to hundreds of thousands but the relief operation "needs to be massively scaled up", it said.
