Manzoor Wassan compares Sindh's flood-hit area with Italy’s Venice

PPP leader Manzoor Wassan on Tuesday faced strong backlash on social media as he compared the flood-hit area of Sindh with Italy’s city Venice, Geo News reported.

Severe monsoon torrential rains in Pakistan have badly hit a third of Pakistan with floods and claimed more than 1,100 lives with millions of people going homeless and looking for aid.

Due to floods, many areas are cut off from the entire country as roads and bridges have been washed away and rescue teams are finding it difficult to deliver aid and food items to the affected areas.

Meanwhile, PPP leader Manzoor Wassan, while talking to Geo News, during a visit to the flood-hit area of Khairpur said he had never seen this view in his 50 years of political life.

“This area after the flood is presenting the view of Italy’s city Venice where villages and bungalows are submerged under water, when I visited Venice, I saw the same condition there,” said Manzoor Wassan.

PPP leader said that they were providing tents, food and cash to flood affectees and trying to drain flood water.

“In this area, I have my 1500-acre private land which consists of gardens destroyed completely due to floods,” he said.

After giving controversial remarks about flood-hit areas, the PPP leader has come under fire as the netizens severely criticized him for comparing Venice to a calamity-hit area instead of helping people.

Pakistan monsoon flooding death toll crosses to 1,000

The recent floods and torrential rains brought devastation across the country due to which tens of millions of people are compelled to live under open skies and in tents with thousands still helplessly waiting for relief.

According to the National Disaster Management Authority released on Monday, the death toll from monsoon flooding in Pakistan since June has reached 1,061.

The NDMA said more than two million acres of cultivated crops have been wiped out, 3,457 kilometres (about 2,200 miles) of roads destroyed, and 157 bridges washed away. 

Worst flooding in more than a decade

The rains that began in June have unleashed Pakistan´s worst flooding in more than a decade, washing away swathes of vital crops and damaging or destroying more than a million homes.

Authorities and charities are struggling to accelerate aid delivery to more than 33 million people, a challenging task in areas cut off because many roads and bridges have been critically damaged.

Pakistan's central bank had already flagged the heavy rainfall as a threat to the economic output, given its impact on the agriculture sector.

As per an early and preliminary estimate by government officials, the damage from the floods could exceed $10 billion.