Flood-hit Pakistan is making attempts to widen a breach in its biggest lake to prevent the flooding of adjacent towns and curb the impact of historic floods that have affected third of the nation.
According to officials, the record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in Pakistan’s northern mountains have displaced 33 million people and killed at least 1,325, including 466 children.
“We have widened the earlier breach at Manchar to reduce the rising water level,” Jam Khan Shoro, irrigation minister in the southern province of Sindh told news agency Reuters late on Monday, referring to the lake.
The authorities have raised concerns about hundreds of thousands people being displaced from their homes due to the flood situation caused by the overflowing of the lake.
“Till yesterday there was enormous pressure on the dikes of Johi and Mehar towns, but people are fighting it out by strengthening the dikes,” district official Murtaza Shah said on Tuesday, adding that 80% to 90% of townspeople had already fled.
The remaining town people have been attempting to strengthen existing dikes – a barrier used to hold or regulate water – with the help of district officials.
“After the breach at Manchar, the water has started to flow, earlier it was sort of stagnant,” one resident, Akbar Lashari, said by telephone, following Sunday’s initial breach of the freshwater lake.
Pakistan is facing the worst flood in a decade which has left about 5.7 million people without shelter or food. The abnormally high monsoon rains have caused a near destruction worth $10 billion, as per official reports.
