QUETTA, Sept 11: The situation in Nasirabad and Jaffarabad districts which have been affected by flash floods triggered by torrential rains worsened on Tuesday when waters from Dera Bugti and Marri hills hit Pat Feeder Canal, causing a 600-foot breach on its left bank. The breach is posing a serious threat to Dera Murad Jamali town.

The rainwater also wrecked havoc on Jaffarabad district and washed away hundreds of mud-houses in Nasirabad. The death toll in the two districts has gone up and dozens of people had either been killed or are missing.

Sources said that around 80,000 cusecs of water coming from the Lahri River had entered the Nasirabad district. The swelling in the river was caused by continuous rains over Bugti and Marri hills for four days. Official sources said that floodwater had also entered the Uch power plant, suspending operations and electricity supply. The plant produces over 600MW of electricity.

Sources said vast areas along the left bank of Pat Feeder Canal had been inundated and Dera Murad Jamali also faced serious threat because the right bank of the canal was weak and it was fast developing cracks because of the raging Lahri River.

According to reports reaching here from the area, the Gugi Dam had developed cracks. It released 117,000 cusecs of water which inundated Nasirabad district and destroyed crops and a large number of houses in the district.

At least 700 villages have been inundated and hundreds of thousands of mud-houses had been washed away or damaged.

“Nothing is left in the west of Nasirabad district as standing corps and hundreds of villages were now under water,” Mir Sadiq Umrani, Provincial Minister and President of PPP, Balochistan, said at a press conference.

He said around 400,000 people were trapped in the Nasirabad district alone adding that rice crop on about 700,000 acres had been destroyed.

He urged the government and international organisations to provide immediate relief to the affected people.

Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani has appealed to the federal government and international organisations for help to cope with the disaster.

Five districts of the province, Nasirabad, Jaffarabad, Dera Bugti, Jhal Magsi and Kohlu, were still cut off from the rest of the country and train service and vehicular traffic on the National Highway could not be restored on Tuesday because the highway and railway tracks were under four to five feet of water.

Meanwhile, the army and the Frontier Corps personnel have started relief operations in the affected areas and teams of doctors have also been sent there.