KARACHI:Over 100 villages in Sukkur, Larkana, Ghotki and Khairpur districts have been inundated due to flood in Indus River. The water level in the river is rising gradually and there are chances of medium flood in the river belt in interior Sindh.
Indus River System Authority (IRSA) said Tuesday that the water level in Indus River at Guddu is 422,653 cusecs, Taunsa area 342,978 cusecs, Sukkur 360,125 cusecs and Kotri 185015 cusecs.
“River Indus at Guddu is in medium flood level. At Taunsa and Sukkur, it is in low flood level. River Sutlej at Ganda Singh Wala is likely attain medium to high flood level,” said Pakistan Meteorological Department in its today report.
The residents of villages in lower areas along the Indus River in Khairpur districts have been shifted to safe areas on self-help basis. “The majority of people at villages along both sides of Indus River in upper areas in Larkana and Khairpur district seem to be reluctant to shift to safe areas despite the government has issued precautionary alerts of shifting from Indus banks’ areas.
“The crops of cotton, sugarcane and vegetables standing on thousands of acres have been submerged, causing a colossal financial loss to the farmers,” said Qadir Bux Khuhro, a resident of village Dilawar Khuhro, located in taluka Gambat, district Khairpur while talking to PPI. He said that a medium flood is likely in Indus River, which will destroy agriculture crops worth millions of rupees.
Nearly 50 villages in district Khairpur along Indus River’s downstream area originating from Khairpur-Larkana Bridge have been submerged while many villages have been evacuated. The crops of cotton, sugarcane and vegetables have been submerged. The cattle has also be evacuated from the submerged villages. Over 50 villages have been inundated in Ghotki, Guddu and Sukkur areas located inside Indus River.
In Larkana, flood has submerged vast area along Indus River’s both sides. The people have started evacuating the villages along with their cattle and other goods. They have been shifting to the urban areas and are residing with their relatives. “A big deluge of water is likely to pass from Indus within 24 hours,” Yar Mohammad Memon, a resident of katcha area located along Indus River told PPI. He said that the government should prepare a plan to help those people whose crops have been inundated.
A villager, Noor Muhammad Khuhro, resident of village Dilawar Khuhro, said that Indus River is in flood and several areas, including villages, have been inundated along Razidero, Agra and Sagiyoon regions in taluka Gambat of district Khairpur Mirs. He said that the government needs to help the people in view of crop losses. There is also need to evacuate people from katcha areas so as to avoid loss of life and property, he added.
Quoting government sources, he said that five lac cusecs of flood is likely to pass from the Indus River belt within some days.
The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa issued flood alerts after India released water into River Sutlej and Alchi Dam. Sutlej River’s water is also likely to raise flood in Indus River system.
The Sutlej River is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. It is the easternmost tributary of the Indus River.
The waters of the Sutlej are allocated to India under the Indus Waters Treaty between India and Pakistan, and are mostly diverted to irrigation canals in India. The river basin area in India is located in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan and Haryana states.
The Indus River is one of the longest rivers in Asia. Originating in the Tibetan Plateau in the vicinity of Lake Manasarovar, the river runs a course through the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, India, towards the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan and the Hindukush ranges, and then flows in a southerly direction along the entire length of Pakistan to merge into the Arabian Sea near the port city of Karachi in Sindh. It is the longest river and national river of Pakistan.
The river has a total drainage area exceeding 1,165,000 km2 (450,000 sq mi). Its estimated annual flow stands at around 243 km3 (58 cu mi), twice that of the Nile River and three times that of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers combined, making it one of the largest rivers in the world in terms of annual flow. The Zanskar is its left bank tributary in Ladakh. In the plains, its left bank tributary is the Panjnad which itself has five major tributaries, namely, the Chenab, Jhelum, the Ravi, the Beas, and the Sutlej. Its principal right bank tributaries are the Shyok, the Gilgit, the Kabul, the Gomal, and the Kurram. Beginning in a mountain spring and fed with glaciers and rivers in the Himalayan, Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, the river supports ecosystems of temperate forests, plains and arid countryside.
The northern part of the Indus Valley, with its tributaries, forms the Punjab region, while the lower course of the Indus is known as Sindh and ends in a large delta. The river has historically been important to many cultures of the region. The 3rd millennium BC saw the rise of a major urban civilization of the Bronze Age. During the 2nd millennium BC, the Punjab region was mentioned in the hymns of the Hindu Rigveda as Sapta Sindhu and the Zoroastrian Avesta as Hapta Hindu (both terms meaning “seven rivers”). Early historical kingdoms that arose in the Indus Valley include Gandhra, and the Ror dynasty of Sauvra.