DADU: Water levels were slowly receding Tuesday in Manchar Lake, the nation’s largest freshwater lake located west of the Indus River in Jamshoro and Dadu districts of Sindh, the irrigation department said.
“The level of flood water in the lake has dropped by two inches to 122.5 feet,” officials from the department told the press.
Hundreds of thousands have been forced from their homes in a disaster blamed on climate change and estimated to have caused losses of about $10 billion, disrupting the lives of nearly 33 million.
“The water gushing from Manchar Lake has submerged 500 villages of 10 union councils in the area,” according to the department. “The water is rapidly discharging into Indus River from four breaches administered at flood protection embankments at the point of Karampur” in Sehwan taluka of Jamshoro.
The department was of the view that floodwater from the lake will discharge into the Indus River within one month period.
“Indus River has still been in high flood at Kotri Barrage,” the officials said. The water level in the river has now gone down at Kotri as the flood moves downstream to the Indus River Delta.
Last week, the lake was on the verge of bursting its banks after attempts by authorities to drain it in a controlled way failed.
In a last-ditch effort to avoid a catastrophe, officials breached Manchar Lake on Sunday, a move they acknowledged could displace up to 100,000 people from their homes but would also save densely populated areas from floods.
HISTORIC FLOODS
Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers have brought floods that have affected 33 million people and killed at least 1,400, including children, National Disaster Management Agency (NDMA) said in an update.
Satellite images have shown that a third of the country is now underwater. More than 1.6m homes have been damaged since mid-June.
The UN refugee agency flew in more desperately needed aid on Monday, with two UNHCR planes landing in Karachi. Two more were expected later in the day. A third plane, with aid from Turkmenistan, also landed in Karachi.
“The floods have left children and families out in the open with no access to the basic necessities of life,” said Abdullah Fadil, a representative in Pakistan for the UN children’s agency, UNICEF.
The deluge of water followed record-breaking summer temperatures and rainfall. The government and the UN have blamed climate heating for the extreme weather.
Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister, has said the country is not to blame for the climate crisis-fuelled disaster, which he has described as the “toughest moment” in the nation’s history.
His government estimates $10 billion in damages and has called for global powers to help. Last week, the US announced $30 million in humanitarian assistance for flood victims, and multiple other countries have flown in aid.
