More flood warnings for Pakistan, Jacobabab threatened

ISLAMABAD - Authorities Monday warned of more floods as efforts were under way to save a major city in southern Pakistan.

Meteorological department chief Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry said a second wave of floods on the Indus river has reached the southern province of Sindh and threatened to swamp more areas.

“This second wave is around one million cusecs (28,320 cubic metres per second) to 1.1 million cusecs (31,152 cubic metres per second),” he said.

The swollen Indus river has submerged thousands of villages in Sindh, and the city of Jacobabad is now threatened by the floods.

“We are working hard to divert the water from Jacobabad,” said Ijaz Jakhrani, a federal minister visiting the area 400 km from the provincial capital Karachi.

Nearly one-quarter of the city’s 300,000 residents have already moved out, and an army airbase was under flood threat. Jacobabad was surrounded by water and several telecommunications installations were damaged or destroyed.

Heavy floods triggered by monsoon rains have swamped around one-fifth of Pakistan and displaced more than 20 million people. Devastation continued as the floods moved southward, submerging dozens of villages each day.

The UN has appealed for $460 million in emergency assistance for some six million affected people.

“This has been a heart-wrenching day for me,” UN chief Ban Ki-moon told reporters after visiting the flooded areas.

“In the past I have visited many natural disasters around the world but nothing like this,” an overwhelmed Ban said, urging the world community to step up and help Pakistan.

Relief workers have struggled hard to deliver aid to millions of refugees lodged in camps and government buildings. The process has been slow due to bad weather and destroyed roads and bridges.