By Abdullahi Lukman
Nearly 300,000 people have been evacuated in the past 48 hours from flood-affected areas in Pakistan’s Punjab province, bringing the total number of displaced individuals since last month to 1.3 million, according to officials.
The mass evacuation follows a fresh flood alert issued by India through diplomatic channels early Wednesday.
Floodwaters have inundated dozens of villages in Muzaffargarh after submerging Narowal and Sialkot, near the Indian border.
Authorities are diverting river overflows onto farmland in a desperate attempt to shield major urban centres, in what is being described as one of Punjab’s largest-ever relief operations.
Arfan Ali Kathia, director-general of the Provincial Disaster Management Authority, confirmed that the latest alert is the second in 24 hours due to heavy rainfall and dam discharges from India.
He added that more than 3.3 million people across 33,000 villages have been impacted, and rescue operations—supported by the military—are ongoing. Drones and boats are being used to locate and evacuate those stranded on rooftops.
About 40,000 people are currently in relief camps, with tent settlements being set up and food supplies distributed.
However, many displaced residents have criticised the conditions, citing poor sanitation, lack of clean water, insufficient food, and frequent power outages.
Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif visited camps in Muzaffargarh on Wednesday to meet displaced families.
The provincial government has pledged compensation for those who lost homes and crops.
Meanwhile, across the border in India’s Punjab state, at least 30 people have died from landslides and flooding, and around 20,000 have been evacuated since August 1.
The current floods are the worst Pakistan has seen since 2022, when climate-driven floods killed nearly 1,700 people.
