LAHORE: Pakistan’s Punjab province is facing an unprecedented crisis, with all three of its major rivers — the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej — simultaneously in “super flood” for the first time in recorded history, a top disaster agency official said on Saturday.
The rare convergence of swollen rivers has inundated swathes of the country’s breadbasket province, fed by record monsoon rains and water releases from upstream India. Flood Forecasting Division data shows exceptionally high levels at multiple headworks, while the Pakistan Meteorological Department has warned of further rains in the upper catchments in early September, threatening to intensify the deluge.
“Currently, the situation is very precarious … we have received high flows in all three major rivers,” Punjab PDMA Director-General Irfan Ali Kathia told Arab News in an interview. “Never in the history of Pakistan and Punjab have three major rivers been in super flood at the same time.”
Kathia said flows in the Sutlej on Friday were the highest since 1955, while the Ravi had not carried such volumes since 1988. He described the crisis as “unprecedented,” with floodwaters still surging through central Punjab.
The Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) said exceptionally high flood levels would persist in the Sutlej at Ganda Singh Wala, while the Chenab at Trimmu was expected to reach the same threshold within 24 hours. The Ravi at Balloki was also in dangerous flood, with further surges forecast. The FFD warned that the Panjnad would face very high flood by September 3, and the Indus at Guddu by September 5, as monsoon flows continue downstream.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department has predicted more heavy showers over the upper catchments of the Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers on September 2–3, which could raise flood levels even further.
Asked about the financial toll of the. flood emergency, Kathia said it was too early to give precise figures while floodwaters were still surging through central Punjab.
“The survey is about to start and I can tell you something with certainty when the survey is done,” he said. “But now we are facing this scenario, so the challenges are numerous.”
IMPACT
Punjab Relief Commissioner Nabeel Javed said on Saturday more than 1.5 million people had been affected and 2,308 villages submerged. Around 481,000 residents were evacuated, and relief operations continue with 511 camps, 351 medical units and 321 veterinary camps in place.
At least 30 people have died in the recent floods in Punjab, while two more were killed by lightning in Lahore, according to PDMA figures. Nationwide, the monsoon season that began in late June has so far killed more than 830 people, including 191 in Punjab, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said.
The monsoon season, which began in late June and is expected to last until mid-September, has revived fears of a repeat of Pakistan’s catastrophic 2022 floods, which killed more than 1,700 people, displaced millions and caused losses exceeding $30 billion.
