As the cataclysmic floods caused by above normal monsoon rains swept away the Chak-Nizam bridge, the first defence line of Dadu, the authorities launched on Sunday an alternate plan under which a ring dyke is being constructed along the embankments of Burda canal to protect the city.
Heavy machinery is being used to erect the ring dyke up to 15 feet high, the authorities said, adding that the flash floods from Manchar Lake breached the Dadu ring bund, posing a threat to the city.
Indus River downstream flows reached 150,000 cusecs after the cuts were made to the Manchar Lake embankments at various points. Meanwhile, people are being evacuated and being moved to safer places. In Naushehro Feroze, over 50 villages are still submerged despite the passage of several days and the locals are facing an outbreak of waterborne diseases.
A day earlier, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa visited Dadu, labelling it as the most affected district by the recent floods.
The army chief, during his visit to Dadu and its surrounding areas, reviewed the ongoing rescue and relief work following the floods triggered by abnormal rains in rural Sindh, said the Inter-Services Public Relations said in a statement.
It is pertinent to mention here that the death toll from the cataclysmic floods in Sindh surged to 621 as 12 more people fell prey to the waters during last two days, it emerged on Sunday.
A small bridge collapsed on the Bhan Saeedabad-Johi Link Road after which floodwaters crossed the Ring Road of Dadu. On the other hand, disaster was averted in the Johi city after a breach, created by unidentified men, was plugged, sources in the irrigation department said.
Meanwhile, the water level in Manchhar Lake – the largest freshwater lake in Pakistan – is rising once again only days after its dykes were cut in controlled breaches to protect nearby cities of Sehwan and Bhan Syedabad.
The lake was at its overtopping point last week when the irrigation department decided to perform controlled breaches. The water from the lake flooded around 150 villages and caused the dyke of the Indus Link canal – which carries water from the catchment area of Manchhar Lake to the River Indus – to fail.
From the Indus Link and the flood protection dyke, a deluge is entering the lake, Irrigation Engineer Mahesh Kumar told a private news channel.
Meanwhile, the lake continues to discharge water towards the River Sindh.
Two days ago NASA released satellite images of the lake, showing how it overflowed.