KARACHI/LARKANA – Situation worsened in Thatta on Thursday as the authorities directed the residents of Sajawal, Mirpur Bathoro and Daro to leave the area for safety after a breach in Surjani Bund near Kot Aalimo widened to over 150 feet, posing serious threat of inundation.
More than 400,000 people thought to have evacuated already, but those remaining were warned to move to safer locations.
Meanwhile, an exceptionally high flood is passing through at Kotri Barrage with 9,45,536 cusecs of water inflow recorded with an outflow of 9,30,233 cusecs, which means the downstream areas would have to brace more devastation in the coming days.
According to Meteorological Department, high tides were preventing the River Indus from shedding the excess water into the Arabian Sea, which was another bad news for Thatta and the area up to the Kotri Barrage.
Gushing floodwater from the breach at Kot Aalimon embankment washed away many villages while flood torrents were roaring to wards urban areas as well, forcing the residents to rush for safety. Another breach in SM Protective Embankment had multiplied the threat to the towns of Daro and Mirpur Bathoro.
The flood torrents sustained mounting pressure at Loop Bund, as the population living near the dykes started mass exodus towards Thatta.
Meanwhile, the DCO warned that several areas were feared to be affected if the breach was not plugged.
Army rescued a large number of people stranded in floodwaters for the last three days. GOC Hyderabad Major-General Shaukat Iqbal visited the spot to monitor the situation where the Irrigation officials briefed him about the latest developments.
In Kotri, the river had expanded normal width of 200 to 300 metres to almost 3.5kms. Thousands of people have been evacuated from the threatened areas near Hyderabad, downstream of the River Indus, where more than 40 villages were swept away.
And in upper Sindh, a weeklong battle to save Shahdadkot proved futile as the gushing floodwaters from a 100-foot breach in a nullah entered the city and the surrounding villages.
Earlier, authorities gave final warning to the residents to vacate the town immediately while people also started leaving Ratodero as well. The area was inundated after the floodwaters after devastating Qubo Saeed Khan encircled the area as the flood torrents from Tori Bund changed the course. Although majority of the locals had left the area, thousands were still stranded while road link between Sindh and Balochistan remained suspended.
It is worth recalling that a 100-foot breach in Tori Bund, developed on August 7, had now expanded to one km and spread destruction not only a vast area of Sindh but also in Balochistan. The authorities had made five cuts in different dykes to save Kandhkot-Kashmore but the exercise did not meet the desired success.
In Larkana, more than 0.1 million people reached various relief camps while many others had taken shelter on the highways. About 95 per cent people, including women and children, have moved to different cities of the province.
Agencies add: The local authorities issued a new evacuation order for Shahdadkot, a town of about 300,000, for the remaining few tens of thousands of people to leave as floodwaters approached the town.
“Shahdadkot is certainly in danger,” said Sindh Relief Commissioner Riaz Ahmed Soomro. “People have been asked to evacuate, but it’s a very big town. People had built an artificial embankment but the pressure is increasing.”
Water lined the road from Hyderabad to Thatta town, as workers frantically used bulldozers to dig embankments only just higher than the flooding, and where people camped out under open skies or in makeshift tents.
“The situation in Thatta is very serious,” Soomro told Reuters. “We have dispatched army personnel, helicopters and boats to the area. The first priority is to evacuate the people.”
Many residents of the Indus delta area, about 100 km east of Karachi, had already left, he said, but “thousands” remained, said Saleh Farooqi, Director General of the National Disaster Management Agency’s Sindh office. “If a second levee breaks, more towns could be inundated.”
The Sindh irrigation minister said waters were also mounting pressure on a protective embankment in Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.
“We have strengthened the embankment because we don’t want mausoleums of our martyrs to be flooded,” the provincial minister, Saifullah Dharejo, told AFP.
On the Arabian Sea, authorities fear that coastal districts may flood in coming days, trapped by River Indus floods pushing south and rough seas.
“Most people have left Sajawal. I’m also leaving town with a heavy heart with my family,” Mohammed Bakhshal, a 40-year-old farmer, told AFP.
“Local transporters are demanding a lot of money to carry our luggage and families to Thatta and Karachi. I had Rs15,000 in savings, which I’m now spending on transport.”