Pakistan: Punjab on red alert as army deployed amid rising floodwaters

Dubai: Punjab has declared an emergency and called in the army to support civil authorities as torrential monsoon rains and water releases from Indian dams have pushed the Ravi, Chenab, and Sutlej rivers to dangerous levels.

Authorities warn that the next 48 hours will be decisive in determining the scale of devastation.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) confirmed that India has opened all gates of its Thein Dam on the Ravi River, following an earlier warning about a similar discharge from the Madhopur Dam. The move comes as heavy rainfall in upper catchments further swells river flows downstream, inundating dozens of villages and straining embankments.

According to the Flood Forecasting Division, the Chenab at Marala and Khanki, the Ravi at Jassar, and the Sutlej at Ganda Singh Wala were all in “exceptionally high flood” condition on Wednesday morning. Outflows at Khanki exceeded 975,000 cusecs and were rising rapidly, while Qadirabad Headworks recorded more than 500,000 cusecs.

With rising waters threatening urban centres, the Punjab government requested immediate troop deployment in six districts including Lahore, Faisalabad, Okara, Kasur, Sialkot, and Narowal. The army, along with Rescue 1122 and civil defence units, has been evacuating residents by boats, particularly in low-lying and river-adjacent villages.

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed federal ministers to oversee relief efforts and instructed the NDMA to work in close coordination with the PDMA. “Relief operations should be further accelerated, and people along river passages must be relocated swiftly,” the premier said.

Adding to the crisis, Sialkot registered its highest rainfall in 49 years, with 363.5mm recorded in 24 hours breaking the previous record set in 1976, Dawn news reported. Officials said the relentless downpour, combined with cross-border water discharges, has already caused breaches in Narowal, Sialkot, and Shakargarh, where part of Hanjli Bridge collapsed under flood pressure.

Worsening humanitarian crisis

Authorities report that more than 174,000 people have already been evacuated, with relief camps set up to provide food, medicine, and shelter. Sixteen villages remain at high risk of flooding, while breaches in protective walls could force last-minute evacuations in urban areas including Shahdara and stretches of the Lahore-Islamabad Motorway.

Since the start of this year’s monsoon season in late June, floods across Pakistan have killed 802 people, half of them in August alone. Officials caution that climate change is intensifying rainfall in the eastern river basins, leaving Punjab, home to half of Pakistan’s 240 million people, increasingly vulnerable to cross-border water surges.