Lahore: Pakistani authorities have evacuated more than a million people from homes in Punjab province this week, officials said on Thursday, as the worst flooding there in four decades caused havoc in hundreds of villages and submerged vital grain crops. Torrential monsoon rain and neighboring India's release of excess water from its dams swelled three rivers that flow into the eastern province, forcing authorities to breach riverbanks in some places-causing flooding in more than 1,400 villages, Punjab's disaster management authority said.
According to Bahrain News Agency, residents of villages such as Qadirabad were walking through water up to their chests on Thursday after the River Chenab overflowed, causing sudden flooding. Officials say flooding has been worsened in Punjab-home to half of Pakistan's people and a major producer of wheat, rice, and cotton-by the release of water into the three rivers, the Ravi, Sutlej, and Chenab, from Indian dams that were full.
At least 12 people have died this week in Punjab province, said Marriyum Aurangzeb, a senior minister in the provincial government.