Floods submerge more villages, towns in Sindh

KARACHI: As floodwater rises in Sindh, more towns and villages are being inundated by the day. People in rural areas of the Sanghar district are using boats to travel to nearby towns, while flood relief camps in Dadu have run out of capacity, forcing the administration to announce that newly arrived flood victims will have to live outside the premises.

The overall death toll has been rising constantly. In its latest situation report, on Saturday the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has said that a total of 1265 people have died as of Friday afternoon. At least 57 more people died in the past 24 hours, the report said.

Most of the new deaths, 38, were reported from Sindh.

Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told a press conference on Friday that floodwater posed a threat to Dadu, Kambar Shahdatkot, Badin, Mirpurkhas, Sanghar, and Umar Kot.

The situation in Matiari and Nosheroferoze was also reported to be alarming, though the chief minister did not name them.

Floods have destroyed 3 million houses and rendered 130 million people homeless in Sindh, he said.

Dadu and its adjoining district Kambar Shahdadkot — both located on the right bank of the River Indus — have been severely hit by floods.

A little downstream on the left side of the river, Matiari, Sanghar, Umar Kot, and Mirpurkhas have seen floodwater water logging swathes of land. In Kambar Shahdadkot authorities ordered an evacuation of the Warah tehsil as a flood torrent headed towards the area.

In Matiari, between two and four feet deep water is still standing in vast areas of Bhit Shah, Saeedabad, and Naudero Lal and has destroyed crops over hundreds of thousands of acres.

Floods have now hit Kandhkot in Jamshoro district near Hyderabad. Villages located in the katcha area of the River Indus have been inundated with many residents moving to safer places while some of them were stranded in the villages.

The River Indus is in high flow near Kotri Barrage with over 500,000 cusecs, according to the Flood Forecasting Division.