CHINIOT: Thousands of people were again displaced by the floodwaters in the district when the river Chenab water flow surged to 550,000 cusecs on Thursday, prompting the district administration to intensify rescue and relief efforts in the villages in the river belt.

The water flow in the river Chenab rose again to 55,000 cusec on Thursday, hardly a week after touching its peak of 850,000 cusecs when India released more water.

The earlier high flood in the river had caused massive destruction in the villages of Chiniot district, inundating around 150 settlements, along with standing crops and displacing over 30,000 people living there.

A couple of days after the passage of the high flow from the district down to Jhang, Athara Hazari, Muzaffar Garh, and Multan areas, the river had returned to its normal flow of 99,000. The floodwaters receded, allowing the displaced residents to return and start rebuilding and repairing their damaged homes, as well as salvaging what remained of their inundated crops.

However, due to this sudden surge in the river water, the people who had returned to their native areas were again forced to move out.

To accommodate these displaced people, the administration has again made functional the 12 relief camps which had been deserted.

Officials say that people displaced by the floodwaters have started arriving in these relief camps as their houses and crops have been flooded again.

They say that the army troops and the Rescue 1122 teams have again started evacuating the flood-hit people, along with their belongings, to safe areas.

Besides rescue efforts, the district administration teams are also carrying out relief operations on vehicles, including tractor-trolleys, in areas where floodwater is currently low, as boats can’t operate there.

The officials say that people living on higher ground are not ready to evacuate despite being surrounded by floodwaters.

Bhowana Assistant Commissioner Ms Sadia Jamal is leading the relief and rescue operations in the tehsil, providing filtered water, bed sheets, mats and mosquito nets to the people still residing in their houses. She says that those living in the open places are at greater risk of catching diseases like malaria and dengue because of mosquitoes.

Chiniot AC Ishfaq Rasool also visited the flood-hit areas of Kot Muhammad Yar and adjoining villages, where he distributed eatables, including packed milk for children, among the residents.

Lalian AC Muhammad Anas Saeed and his team visited Abadi Jallar Wahab and adjoining areas, which were surrounded by flood water, and distributed food and dry ration among the residents.

The Rescue 1122 teams on boats remained vigilant, rescuing and evacuating people to safe places. So far, they have evacuated 1,312 people and 182 cattle heads trapped in the floodwater to safer places, from the villages of Thatta Hashmat Ka, Mouza Doom, and other areas in the river belt.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2025