• Gilani urges residents to evacuate after decision to breach Shershah dyke ahead of another surge; four drown after boats capsize in Rahim Yar Khan
• Floodwaters not receding as ‘backwater effect’ prevents Chenab from flowing into Indus; high-level alert for Sutlej after advisory from India
• PM Shehbaz forms committee to assess flood damage; official says over 4m people affected by floods
LAHORE: The southern districts of Punjab, particularly Multan, are at risk of severe flooding due to the swollen Chenab River, with the authorities preparing for a breach at the Sher Shah dyke to save the urban centres from inundation.
Although no decision had been taken to breach the Shershah bund at the time of going to press, officials were clear that the dyke would have to be breached if the water level crossed the critical threshold of 393.5 feet. As of Monday night, the water level was steady at 393 feet.
Officials said the flood would approach Multan in the next 48 hours, which would make the situation very critical for the city, which is already at risk of flooding.
Against this backdrop, it seemed that the decision to breach the embankment had already been made anticipating a massive surge heading towards Multan from Trimmu Headworks.
Multan MNA and ex-PM Yousaf Raza Gilani, in a Facebook post, asked people living in settlements along the embankment to relocate immediately. The PPP leader said water would be diverted towards Sher Shah, Gagra Kachhor, Mouza Hamar and other adjacent areas to break the flood force and avoid further damage.
Meanwhile, floodwaters that had entered Jalalpur Pirwala on Sunday submerged more localities in the district, including Alipur tehsil. Due to a backwater effect that was preventing the Chenab from falling into the Indus, the water had started flowing upstream of Panjnad.
The water first entered Panjnad Headworks’ downstream settlements Makhan Bela, Azmatpur, Bait Mullanwali, Bait Nabi Shah, Paka Naich, Bazwala, Lati Marri, Bait Burraha, Kundrala, and Bait Channa, and later flooded upstream areas of Ghalwan-I and Dammar Wala Janobi. The authorities relocated thousands of people to save them from flooding.
Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif constituted a committee led by Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal for the completion of the damage and need assessment report of the ongoing floods within two weeks.
Flood threat
Addressing a press conference in Multan, Provincial Disaster Management Authority Director General Irfan Ali Kathia said Jalalpur Pirwala was still facing the flood threat. He said that the first flood was moving out slowly and the water was not receding, while another surge from Head Trimmu was on its way towards Multan.
He said that the pressure would increase on Head Muhammadwala and the Sher Shah dyke in the next 24 hours. He said 63 people lost their lives and rescue boats had made 27,000 trips in Multan, adding that 4300 villages in 26 districts were affected due to the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab floods.
Multan Commissioner Aamir Kareem Khan said 4,000 people were evacuated and shifted to safer places in Jalalpur Pirwala.
Punjab Relief Commissioner Nabil Javaid said 4.199 million people from 4,300 villages were affected due to the flooding in the eastern rivers. He said that 2.147 million people, who were trapped in the floods, had been relocated to safer locations and 412 relief and 492 medical camps were established in the flood-affected districts.
The commissioner further shared the water situation of different dams, including Mangla Dam was 88 per cent full while Tarbela Dam was 100pc full. According to the commissioner, India’s Bhakra Dam on the River Sutlej was 90pc full, Pong Dam was 99pc full, while Thein Dam was 97pc full.
Earlier, the PDMA released a high-level flood alert for the Sutlej River, following an official advisory from the Indian High Commission regarding the rising water flow.
According to the alert, the river was experiencing a high flood level at the Harike and Ferozepur downstream points in India, indicating that water levels were expected to rise further within Pakistan.
Ganda Singh Wala Headworks on the Sutlej would continue to be in an “exceptionally high” flood. Besides riverine floods, Punjab’s urban centres also faced urban flooding.
Lahore recorded a heavy rainfall in several of its areas, with some localities, including Jail Road, receiving more than 100mm of rain on Monday. Meanwhile, torrential downpour in Faisalabad broke a 30-year record for the city.
Flowing backwards
As of Monday night, the floodwaters were not receding as the Indus River was pushing back the water from the Sutlej, Chenab, and Ravi rivers. Due to this backwater effect, the operational capacity of the Panjnad Headworks had also reduced, according to a PDMA official.
Despite a steady flow of over 524,000 cusecs at Panjnad, the water was flowing upstream. Panjnad had recorded a flow of 609,664 cusecs till 12:30am and the water receded to 524,762 cusecs by 3:30 pm.
Just like the Indus, the Chenab is pushing back Ravi waters, a phenomenon that has previously led to a perilous rise in pressure at the Sidhnai Barrage on the Ravi River.
For the past few days, flows had remained dangerously steady at over 135,000 cusecs despite falling inflows from the upstream Balloki. To avert a catastrophic breach at Sidhnai, the government had to make a breach at the Mai Sufara embankment to save the barrage.
In a second major emergency operation, a controlled breach was made on the Sutlej River near Jalalpur Pirwala on Sunday night to divert water towards the Vehari district.
RYK capsize
Three people were killed while at least 8-10 people, mostly children, were missing after a boat capsized in the Chenab floodwater in the Noorwala area of tehsil Liaqatpur.
Reports said that a boat carrying almost 28 people capsized in Mouza Noorwala located in the riverbed area of the Chenab.
Irfanul Haq in Rahim Yar Khan contributed to this report
Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2025
