Lahore: Medium to Low flood The Sutlej River continues to cause damage across Multan, Bahawalpur and Lodhran areas, forcing thousands of residents to remain displaced, many of whom live in relief camps established along the embankments over the past 16 days.
Floods flooded over 200 villages in Jalalpur Pirwala, Lodhran and Uch Sharif closure 15 days.
The National Highway Administration (NHA) is strengthening the expressway with stone barriers to prevent further damage. Local connectivity was also destroyed individually, with Jalalpur Pirwala cutting from Lodhran and Uch Sharif as critical roads, including Gilani Road, where there were no controlled violations inserted.
Jalalpur Pirwala, Lodhran and Bahawalpur were particularly affected, such as villages such as Noraja Bhutta, Basti Lang, Kotla Chakar, Bahadurpur and Dunyapur, surrounded by stagnant waters at an altitude of eight to 10 feet.
Floods stayed between the M-5 and the Noraja Bhutta embankment, affecting 200 villages
Kotla Chakar resident Nasir Khan Baloch said the water was rising along the east side of the M-5 and the house was collapsing.
“Noraja Bhutta’s embankment has not been blocked yet, and it will take 10 days to close the violation, which means that their houses will collapse completely due to the accumulation of water.”
He said they lived along Gilani Road and the entire village would be destroyed.
“The water does not pass through the culverts on the M-5 street, and stones can also be placed to close them. How will the water exit from our area in the next few days when it can’t find a way to reach the Chenab River?” he asked the authorities concerned.
Muhammad Bakhsh, a resident of Basti Lang, said the water will not retreat until the government does not violate the streets.
“All our property has been destroyed and living in camps has become increasingly challenging,” he said, not forgetting the situation caused by different national departments.
On contact, the NHA, irrigation department and regional administration officials’ responses to the water formed a reservoir between the M-5 and the Noraja Bhutta embankment, which was continuously transferred to the highway around 60% of the Sutlej River water, and moved to the highway to the highway and rose the water level in 200 villages, raising these issues in 200 villages, which were supporting the issue on other issues.
The irrigation chief said they were inserting violations on the Noraja Bhutta embankment, while district government officials said they supported the NHA and irrigation departments to fill the violations. The NHA chief believes that the authorities have the task of protecting the streets and will do this at all costs.
Rescue 1122 is providing transportation services in Jalalpur Pirwala, Basti Lang, Dua Chowk and other affected areas. Although no new evacuation of Jalalpur Pirwala has been reported in the past 24 hours, 150 transport cases have been assisted.
A spokesperson for rescue 1122 confirmed that the evacuation phase has been completed, and efforts have been made to focus on transportation, prioritizing children, women and the elderly.
Multan Deputy Commissioner Wasem Hamid Sindhu said emergency measures are underway to restore the Jalalpur Pirwala flood damage infrastructure.
In this regard, the regional government has been continuously stationing heavy machinery in Jalalpur Pirwala for recovery operations.
Mr Sindhu said he received writings from authorities while visiting the Jalalpur motorway area and inspected the repairs of the Sui Gas Pipeline service.
“The flood mitigation camp will be established in Jalalpur Pirwala for convenience of the public until normal return. All departments, including the NHA and irrigation, are engaged in joint operations to restore infrastructure.”
The Provincial Disaster Management Bureau reported that the flow of the Sutlej River has been standardized at all major monitoring points, including 40,000 Cuseecs in Ganda Singhwala and 55,000 Cuseecs in Suleimanki.
After two months of increased levels, the flow of the river has stabilized and floods have been retreated in the affected areas, PDMA said.
Posted at Dawn on September 27, 2025
