NAROWAL: In Sialkot city, due to the outages of electricity, gas and water, the citizens are facing severe difficulties while three to four feet of floodwater has inundated their homes.

A man, his wife and his mother were suffocated to death due to generator smoke after the power supply remained suspended.

Muhammad Shakeel, a resident of village Kotli Bhago, was sleeping with his family by running a generator after the electricity outage in his area. Shakeel, 32, wife Mubeen Shakeel, 25, and mother Azra Begum, 55, died of suffocation due to the smoke from the generator in the house.

The flood washed away roads, cutting off communication between 85 villages of Bajwat and Sialkot. The number of people who died in the flood in Sialkot has reached 18. As many as 1,575 police officers and employees, including the DPO Sialkot, are conducting rescue operations to evacuate people trapped in the flood.

Three-member family suffocated to death; 16 bodies recovered; many areas in city still flooded despite receding Chenab

Residents of Sialkot district are facing severe loss of life and property due to high-level floods in the Chenab River, Tavi River, rainwater drains of Aik, Bhed, Palkhu and Dek.

According to the Irrigation Department, the water level in the Chenab River has decreased to 105,000 cusecs. Rainwater drain Aik and Bhed has caused havoc in Sialkot City. Rangpura, Islamabad Mohalla, Kashmiri Mohalla, Imam Sahib, Haji Pura, Batar Mohalla and Circular Road are still flooded after three days. Three to four feet of flood water has entered the homes and shops of citizens. Local residents are living on the first and second floors of their houses. Rangpura residents Muhammad Ashraf and Muhammad Azam said that there has been three to four feet of flood water in our houses for three days. They said that household goods worth Millions of rupees have been submerged in the flood water. They said that people are living on the roofs of their houses. They said that electricity, Drinking water and gas supply have been cut off in our houses for three days. They said that the daily necessities of life have been exhausted in the houses. Due to the unavailability of gas for cooking, family members remain hungry. He said that due to the suspension of electricity supply, children are afraid and scream in the intense heat and darkness of the night. Muhammad Bilal said that middle-class people live in these residential areas. He said that children, women and men have been taking shelter on the roofs of their houses for three days. He said that more than one family is residing in one house. He said that people trapped in their houses cannot go out to get food and medicine. He said that three to four feet of flood water has accumulated in low-lying areas including Sialkot Cantt, Askari Colony, Diamond Colony.

Syed Anjum Naqvi, senior journalist, Sialkot told Dawn that the flood situation in the city has arisen due to the incompetence of the District Administration Sialkot. He said that illegal encroachments have been built on the rainwater drains passing through the city. He said that the district administration has not been able to remove the illegal constructions built on the rainwater drains. He said that the administration has no attention for the citizens and areas submerged in Sialkot city. He said that due to the incompetence of the district administration Sialkot, thousands of people, especially children, have been trapped in their homes.

Dozens of villages in Bajwat and surrounding areas were submerged by the high flood in the Tavi River and the roads connecting Bajwat with other villages had been washed away by the floodwater.

Due to flooding of the roads, 85 villages, including Bajwat, Loni, Khairi, Faklian, Koja Chak, Chaprad and Saidpur, including other villages, have been cut off from Sialkot by land.

Sialkot District Emergency Officer Engineer Naveed Iqbal said 1,257 people have been rescued during the floods but 16 people trapped in the flood died. They included 4-year-old Muhammad Imran, 35-year-old Muhammad Arshad, 27-year-old Muhammad Rashid, 16-year-old Liaqat Ali, 18-year-old Muhammad Riaz, 32-year-old Munir Ahmed, 30-year-old Imran Ali, 44-year-old Muhammad Rafiq, 10-year-old Imran, 19-year-old Riaz Ali, 50-year-old Muhammad Ibrahim, 55-year-old Sardar Ali, 28-year-old Muhammad Azeem, 45-year-old Muhammad Sardar, 35-year-old Ghulam Qadir and 16-year-old Munir Ahmed. Their bodies have been recovered.

District Police Officer Faisal Shahzad told Dawn that 1,575 police officers and employees were conducting rescue operations to rescue those trapped in the flood.

“During the rescue operations, 1,040 children, 820 women and 1,435 men had been rescued and shifted to safe places. He said 49 police vehicles had been used in the operations. He said that police teams have carried out rescue operations in 195 villages and 35 urban areas.”

The DPO said 557 animals had been rescued and shifted to safer places during the operation while the flood areas were being monitored with the help of Safe City cameras and drones.

According to Asim Kamran, deputy chief warden Wildlife Sialkot, three rare deer were seen floating in the flood near Bajwat. “An injured deer was provided first aid. All the deer were safely shifted to Jallo Park Lahore,” he informed.

Deputy Commissioner Saba Asghar Ali told Dawn that 35 medical camps, 38 flood relief camps and 18 food camps had been set up for the flood victims. She said the flood relief camps were giving facilities like accommodation, electricity, water, food, medicine, fodder and medicine for animals.

The DC Sialkot said that the food cooked in the food camps is delivered to the flood victims who could not leave their homes.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2025