Sutlej floods submerge villages, destroy crops

LAHORE: The raging Sutlej River has inundated several settlements and hundreds of villages, wiping out vast stretches of standing crops.

A flood alert was issued on Sunday after India released more water into the river, warning of high-level flooding at Harike Downstream and Ferozepur Downstream.

At Ganda Singh Wala, the swollen Sutlej submerged multiple villages, while stagnant water has begun to trigger the spread of diseases among flood victims.

On the other hand, dozens of villages in Vehari, Tehsil Burewala and Mailsi have also been submerged in water. A total of 90 villages are submerged in the area under which 80,000 people have been shifted to safer places and 60 acres of standing crops have been destroyed.

Khairpur Tamiwali, Tehsil of Bahawalpur, is also severely affected by the flood, in which dozens of settlements and thousands of acres have been submerged in water while 23 villages and 26,000 acres of crops have been submerged in Arifwala.