Widening breaches at Manchar endanger villages

LARKANA: All efforts to release water from the Manchar Lake were successful on Thursday, after it reached its maximum level of 122 feet earlier, with several villages and crops standing on myriad acres inundated by torrents streaming out from various canals of the lake.

Vast breaches occured at Manchar Lake’s points RD 95, 96 and 97. Consequently all workers, including Sindh Irrigation Department’s staffers, left the 26-kilometer long embankment on an emergency basis to save their lives, and any possible belongings.

It is feared that the flood of water flowing out from Manchar Lake will affect Bhan Saeedabad area, while hundreds of villages and millions of people may submerge in water. According to Irrigation Department officials, the breach in RD-96 of Manchar Lake’s protective embankment, widened to 1,000 feet.

The breach at RD-95 was 25-feet wide and RD-97 was 42-feet respectively. DCO Jamshoro Sami Siddiqui said he issued emergency warnings to Bhan Saeedabad for evacuation. He added that a caravan of 100 buses has been dispatched to the city to help the citizens to relocate to safer places.

He said the people of Bhan, Bobhak, Dall and Talti had been told and the administration was helping them leave the area. However, people were reluctant to move to camps because arrangements had not been made for their animals.

Meanwhile, a temporary protective embankment is being built to save the Sehwan city of Bhan Saeedabad from the flood situation.

Hyderabad GOC Maj-Gen Shoukat Iqbal told reporters at the breach site that the step had been taken to reduce the water level in Manchar and pressure on its embankments because breaches in them could inundate Bhan Saeedabad and other towns.

All the displaced people are to be accommodated at the camps in Sehwan Matiari, Jamshoro, Kotri, Tando Muhammed Khan and Tando Allahyar.

Also, the flood situation in most of the rivers is reverting to normal by each passing day as the Indus River is flowing in low flood with a falling trend at the Kotri Barrage, while all the other main rivers namely Jehlum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej are flowing normal.

Brigadier Zubair of Pak Army said Pakistan Army and Pak Navy decided to launch a joint operation in the flooded areas adjacent to the Lake, adding at least five helicopters and over 50 boats are being dispatched to these areas.

In Thatta, the plugging and repair work of a breach in MS dyke near Sujawal was initiated on Thursday. Heavy machinery and material has started reaching the site of breach.
The breach occurred last month and it flooded large areas of Sujawal sub-division including Sujawal city, Jati town, numerous villages and over 300,000 acres of agricultural land.

Life is returning to normalcy in Sujawal and the resident have started returning. Electricity was restored on Thursday. Some shops and markets also opened in the city. The road-link from Sujawal to Jati has also been restored.