Cut made in Manchar Lake to save Sehwan, nearby areas

The Sindh Information Minister said on Sunday that a cut had been made in Manchar Lake to save Sehwan town from flooding, but warned that at least five surrounding union councils would still be affected, Aaj News reported. Sehwan Airport, an oil company facility as well as the home village of Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah, is located in five UCs – Bubak, Aarazi, Wahar, Jaffarabad and Channa. Addressing a press conference in Hyderabad, the minister said, "Around 125,000 people have to be displaced to nearby areas." "All the government apparatus is on the ground. Attention is given to the most affected areas." The information minister's press release comes after Jamshoro Deputy Commissioner Capt (Retired) Fariduddin Mustafa ordered people near the lake to evacuate the area after the water level in Manchar Lake rose to a "dangerous level". "The banks of Lake Manchar are likely to burst at any time, so people are asked to evacuate the area and should go to safe places," an official leaflet said. "The next 24 hours will be very critical," DC said on Saturday. "We patrol the banks day and night." On Saturday, the Sindh Irrigation Department warned that the level of the lake, spread across Jamshoro and Dadu districts, had reached 122.5 RL. During his visit to Manchar Lake, Pakistan's largest natural freshwater lake, Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah recently said that the water level in the lake will be dangerous if it reaches 123 feet. The road connections of many small towns and villages to Sehwan are already under water. The lake receives about 40,000 cusecs of water from the Main Nara Valley (MNV) runoff and mountain streams. Earlier this week, Memon said that three million houses have been damaged at more than one point and about a hundred thousand animals have also died in different areas of the province. He said that a total of 234 Tehsils and nine hundred and eighty nine Dehs were affected by the rain. The death toll from cataclysmic floods in Pakistan continued to rise on Saturday with 57 dead, including 25 children, as the country grapples with a humanitarian and rescue operation of almost unprecedented scale. Record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in the northern mountains brought floods that affected 33 million people and killed at least 1,265 people, including 441 children. The flood, blamed on climate change, continues to spread. The proportion of child deaths has raised concerns. The United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) said on Friday that "many more" child deaths from disease are at risk after the floods. The country received almost 190% more rain than the 30-year average in the quarter to August, totaling 390.7 millimeters (15.38 in). Sindh province, with a population of 50 million, was worst hit, with 464% more rain than the 30-year average. Aid poured in from a number of countries, with the first humanitarian aid flight from France landing in Islamabad on Saturday morning. But Pakistan's largest charity group said there were still millions of people who had not been affected by aid and assistance. Initial estimates of the damage were set at $10 billion, but surveys are still ongoing with international organizations. The United Nations has appealed for $160 million in aid to help deal with an "unprecedented climate disaster" as Pakistan's navy fanned out inland to carry out rescue operations in areas that resemble the sea.