Pakistan floods: Authorities breach largest freshwater lake

Pakistan on Sunday ordered the strategic breaching of the country's largest freshwater lake after it reached dangerous levels and posed a threat to areas of southern Sindh province.

Unprecedented floods since June have already left almost a third of the country underwater.

What we know about the breaching of the lake

Sindh Irrigation Minister Jam Khan Shoro said about 100,000 people would be displaced by the rupture of Manchar Lake, but that more populated areas would be prevented from flooding.

"By inflicting the breach we have tried to save Sehwan town. Water levels in Johi and Mehar towns in Dadu district would be reduced by this breach in the lake," Shoro told Reuters news agency.

Meteorologists predicted more heavy rain in the region in the coming days and authorities urged people living near the lake, located west of the Indus River, to evacuate.

It was unclear how many of the 100,000 people affected would leave their homes.

Death toll nears 1,300

Since June, Pakistan has been hit by record floods that have affected 33 million people and killed at least 1,290.

From June to August, the country received nearly three times the 30-year average rainfall, totaling 390.7 millimeters (15.38 inches).

Sindh province, with a population of 50 million, was hardest hit, getting 464% more rain than the 30-year average.

More fatalities were reported by the country's disaster agency Sunday from Sindh as well as flood-hit areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the north and Baluchistan in the west.

The agency said soldiers and volunteers were using helicopters and boats to get people stranded out of flooded areas to relief camps that are already housing tens of thousands of people.

The inundation has been blamed on climate change, spurred by record monsoon rains and melting glaciers after a heatwave in May.

Floods create huge new lake

Satellite images from the European Space Agency released this week showed how the Indus river has spilled far beyond its banks, creating a lake more than 10 kilometers (6 miles) wide and 100 kilometers (60 miles long).

On Saturday, Pakistan appealed again to the international community for aid to flood victims and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is due to visit the country on September 9.

Planes from Turkey, China, UAE, France, Uzbekistan and other countries have brought vital supplies to the impoverished country across a humanitarian air bridge in recent days.

The United Nations children's agency UNICEF said there was a risk of "many more" child deaths from disease after the floods subside.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Sunday appealed to relief agencies to help prevent more children from dying, saying they were "among the most adversely affected."

According to initial government estimates, the devastation has caused $10 billion (€10 billion) in damage but officials fear the final bill will be much higher.

mm/wd (AP, Reuters)