Thousands evacuated after “extremely high” floods

About 200,000 people have been evacuated as the floods devastate parts of the province of Pendjab in Pakistan.

Rescuers transferred safety residents to boats after the disaster organs warned of “extremely high” floods on the Ravi, Sutley and Chenab rivers. Several areas called the army to help.

This comes after Pakistani officials said India warned that it would release water from large dams upstream, causing heavy floods in parts of what is the most populated province of Pakistan.

Both sides have undergone intense rainfall in recent weeks, with monsoon rains killing over 800 people in Pakistan since June.

The national disaster management body (NDMA) has warned people in the affected areas to stay away from rivers, sewers and low -spaced areas.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said the Federal Government would cooperate entirely with the regional authorities to prevent the risk of flooding, especially in the urban regions of Gujarat, Siacot and Lahore-second most populated city of Pakistan.

Sialcot has observed more rainfall in 24 hours than the highest record in the last 49 years, according to Pakistan’s main meteorologists. This has left cars, homes and buildings.

Many residents of the city are stuck, said Federal Minister of Planning to the BBC.

Rescuers go from door to door in villages, moving their residents and cattle by boat.

These boats have saved more than 32,000 people trapped by Floodwater, according to Reuters news agency, citing local employees.

The BBC was traveling with the rescuers while evacuating hundreds of people from one village in the Kasur neighborhood, on the border with India.

The Sutley River was overflowing, dipping homes and washing the walls that were intended to protect them.

A resident, we are wearing Ahmad, told us that he refused to leave.

He has experienced many evacuations over the years and said that his family simply cannot afford to leave again.

He showed us the dozens of cows he holds near his home, and the hay he stores to feed them. “I already use their winter supply,” he said.

Others have accepted help from emergency teams, choose to stay in shelters or with friends and relatives who live in a higher place.

We joined more than 20 men, women and children who had huddled together on a small boat. A woman pressed her two -month -old child on her lap as the boat failed through brown currents.

These floods are destructive to many families in a country where more than 40% of people live below the poverty line.

That is why many people with whom the BBC has talked in the last two days have said they refused to evacuate.

They would prefer to take their chances – to protect as much as possible from their property and things – even if it means the risk of their lives.

About half of the residents of a village we visited, a community of about 3,000 people, located two hours from Lahore, refused to evacuate.

According to the Pakistan’s disaster organs, a Wednesday flood follows a warning from India that it will release water from large dams upstream.

When India’s tanks are overwhelmed, water release can cause a strong flood downstream – which occurs in the fights of Pakistan Pengjab, employees say.

India’s warning was a rare case of public contact between the two countries, which went through their most important military conflict in decades in May.

Both are devastated by floods after extreme monsoon rains.

On Tuesday, a landslide along the route to the popular Hindu shrine Vayshno Devi died at least 30 people in the administration of Indians Kashmir, staff said.