Thousands evacuated as floods threaten Pakistani province

ISLAMABAD - Half-a-million people have been evacuated from Pakistan’s Sindh province as rising floodwaters threatened to inundate several towns in the region, a media report said Friday.

Authorities Thursday night ordered all residents in Thatta city to evacuate to safer places. People fled in vans, buses and on carts laden with furniture, while some went on foot leading their livestock, Geo TV reported.

An official said three towns were threatened by fresh floods. Low-lying areas flanking the road from Hyderabad to Thatta town were submerged, as workers frantically used bulldozers to build embankments.

A breach in the Thatta embankment has inundated many villages and was threatening to submerge more areas. “We have asked about 400,000 people in Sujawal, Mirpur Bhattero and Darooan to leave for safer places,” said Hadi Bakhsh Kalhoro, a senior official in Thatta district.

The Shahdadkot city, where people had been asked to leave their homes, has been flooded after a breach in Kirthar canal.

Floodwaters have also threatened to enter the Garhi Khuda Bakhsh village, where Benazir Bhutto, her father, and her two younger brothers are buried. Meanwhile, the Pakistan Army has been assigned to monitor all embankments.