The worst hit were the 350,000 persons displaced from Muzaffargarh, Daira Din Panah, Kotadu, Sanawan, Gurmani and Mahmood Kot who had taken shelter in relief camps, along roadsides and in homes with other families and friends. As many of them did not have any amount of money, they were left in distress.
District Co-ordination Officer Muzaffargarh Farasat Iqbal said that more than 50 percent residents of Muzaffargarh city have so far been shifted to Multan and other safer places. Mostly on self help basis. He said that more than 700,000 people were evacuated from the district headquarter till Tuesday after the district government announced through mosque loud speakers, warning the people to leave their homes in the context of looming 350,000-cusec Chenab flood water, likely to cause over flowing of Rangpur and Taliri canals and breaches any time in them in the face of their weak banks.
The announcements triggered panic among the people, as the transport arrangements were not enough for the exodus. Within hours, the buses, trucks, vans, minibuses, motorcycles, bicycles and even pedestrians thronged to the road leading to Multan. The situation cause huge traffic jams at different sites.
The government had make arrangements for transportation but that was not enough. The district government booked all public transport at the disposal of people evacuating the city. State Minister for Economic Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar claimed that she had arranged a shuttle train between Multan and Muzaffargarh, which transported thousands of people to Multan.
But when these people reached Multan, there were not enough arrangements. Nor were there any relief camps. After a while, the army, city district government, NGOs and other agencies arranged camps for them. Officials said River Chenab swelled on Tuesday when water was recorded at 3.40 lakh cusecs at Multan and the floodwaters were likely to submerge the city.
On the other hand, thousands of people had to leave their homes in union councils of Budh, Hamdaniwala, Baseera, and Gul wala when a breach occurred in the Muzaffargarh Canal near Nusrat wala, inundating thousands of acres. The floodwater is now heading towards Muzaffargarh. The Muzaffargarh thermal power plant is also in danger. Its staff colony has been evacuated. In case of flood waters hitting the power plant the country would face the worst power crisis.
The water level in River Indus at Taunsa is rising once again threatening the low lying areas of the Dera Ghazi Khan and Muzaffargarh districts. The people living in katcha areas have been warned about more flood and asked to shift to safe places. Due to recent high floods the relief activities were also affected, however, now loss of life was reported from any part of the district so far. The personnel of Pakistan Air Force, Red Crescent and NGOs were conducting relief operation in flood hit areas of the district.