As Lake Manchar in southern Pakistan grew from extraordinary monsoon rains that started in mid-June and have killed about 1,300 people, officials issued a warning on Sunday that further flooding was likely to occur.
Authorities asked residents of the Jamshoro and Dadu districts of Sindh province near the lake to leave as additional rain was forecast for the area in the days to come.
According to them, the swelling floods had reached unsafe heights and were endangering a protective dike and embankment.
The lake, one of the biggest in Asia, is the largest naturally occurring freshwater lake in Pakistan and is situated west of the Indus River.
According to Fariduddin Mustafa, the administrator for the Jamshoro district, workers dug a hole in the embankment of the lake on Sunday to let extra water drain and eventually into the Indus. But the water keeps rising, he remarked.
According to authorities, parts of the Dadu area have already inundated.
The government decided to make a cut on the Bagh-e-Yousuf side to prevent any unregulated flow of water after we determined that the water levels had reached a hazardous level and there was concern that the embankment of the lake would collapse at any moment, he added.
The event comes a day after Pakistan again pleaded with the international world for assistance for those affected by the massive floods brought on by monsoon rains, which has left millions homeless throughout the country and about 1,300 people dead.
Supply planes from other nations have been using a humanitarian air bridge to provide goods to the underdeveloped nation.
The extraordinary monsoon rains and floods have been attributed to climate change by several authorities and scientists, including U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who last week urged the globe to avoid “sleepwalking” through the catastrophic disaster.
On September 9, he will go to Pakistan to meet with authorities and see flood-affected regions.
As further deaths were reported from flood-affected regions in the provinces of Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and Baluchistan, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority raised the death toll since mid-June, when monsoon rains began weeks earlier this year, to 1,290 in its most recent report.
According to the authorities, relief and rescue efforts resumed on Sunday with military and volunteers utilising boats and helicopters to transport trapped individuals from flooded regions to relief camps where they were given shelter, food, and medical attention.
Many relief camps have been established in government buildings to accommodate tens of thousands of people, and many more have sought refuge on the higher sides of the roadways.
Initial estimates by the government put the damage at $10 billion, but Ahsan Iqbal, the planning minister, stated on Saturday that “the magnitude of destruction is huge and calls for an immense humanitarian response for 33 million people.”
While Pakistan has already received 30 flights carrying supplies from Turkey, China, the UAE, France, Uzbekistan, and other nations, additional planes are anticipated in the coming days.
Sheila Jackson and Tom Suzy, two members of Congress, were scheduled to land in Pakistan on Sunday to see the flood-affected districts and meet with authorities.