• Thousands of vehicles stranded, supply chains disrupted
• Sutlej River forms 20-25km inland lake along Gilani Road-M5 stretch
• Official admits controlled breach into Chenab might have reduced damage
• One dead as boat capsizes in Muzaffargarh; three of a family drown in Alipur

LAHORE: In a catastrophic escalation of Punjab’s flood disaster, a massive new section of the Multan-Sukkur Motorway (M5) was completely washed away near Jalalpur Pirwala, severing a vital national infrastructure link and stranding the region for the eighth consecutive day.

The breach, which rapidly expanded due to unrelenting water pressure from the Sutlej River, has now devoured all six lanes of both tracks, paralysing all traffic between southern and central Punjab. The collapse has disrupted supply chains, stranded thousands of vehicles and forced travellers onto perilous alternate routes.

“This is the second major breach to cripple the M5,” confirmed an Irrigation Department spokesperson. “The new breach is actively widening. Our emergency teams are working around the clock, placing boulders in a desperate attempt to stabilise the ground.”

The scale of the disaster is vast. The Sutlej River has effectively created a 20 to 25km-long inland lake between Gilani Road and the M5 motorway, submerging and damaging the highway along its entire length in the area.

A district administration official, speaking to Dawn on condition of anonymity, revealed that the scale of the damage might have been mitigated by a difficult decision. “It would have been better to make a controlled breach on the motorway to pass the Sutlej River water into the Chenab, but the decision was not taken in time,” the official stated.

Due to medium level flood in the Sutlej River, thousands of people were being evacuated from Multan, Lodhran and Bahawalpur districts.

Water continued to change its way from the Norja Bhutta breach to inundate the villages between Gilani Road and the M5 motorway.

Meanwhile, a man drowned and 14 people were recovered when a rescue boat carrying 15 people capsized in the Seetpur area of Alipur tehsil in Muzaffargarh district. In another incident, three members of a family drowned in Basti Arain in Alipur when they were trying to cross the standing water.

Multan district administration spokesperson Waseem Yousuf said that all flood relief camps in Multan city and Shujabad tehsil were closed as flood-affected people were returning to their homes.

He said that the administration had also started a survey to calculate losses in areas that were cleared of floodwaters.

However, he said that the relief camps in Saddar tehsil, Multan, were not closed as flood-affected people had not returned yet, and flood relief camps would not be closed in Jalalpur Pirwala tehsil until the situation returned to normal.

The teams of the urban unit would conduct the survey using the latest technology, he said, adding that the district administration officials have started the process of spraying flood-affected houses, and health department teams were tasked with using sprays to kill germs in standing waters.

In Muzaffargarh, the water level in the Chenab River has returned to normal,and water has receded from the low-lying areas. Flood-affected individuals have started returning to their homes in areas where the water has receded.

Flood-hit people are residing in 20 out of the 30 relief camps established. Some 16,650 flood-affected people are residing in relief camps, while 10,350 affected individuals are staying in tents set up on flood embankments.

PDMA DG Irfan Ali Kathia said the flood situation in Punjab’s rivers has returned to normal and the water flow in most rivers of Punjab has normalised.

He said that a significant decrease in water levels has been observed in flood-affected areas.

On the Sutlej River, the water flow was 104,000 cusecs at Ganda Singh Wala and 81,000 cusecs at Sulemanki.

He said that the water flow was 42,000 cusecs at the Marala point of the Chenab River, 44,000 cusecs at Khanki Headworks, 37,000 cusecs at Qadirabad, 41,000 cusecs at Head Trimmu and 133,000 cusecs at Panjnad.

On the Ravi River, the water flow was 8,000 cusecs at the Jassar point, 9,000 cusecs at Shahdara, 31,000 cusecs at Balloki and 29,000 cusecs at Sidhnai.

According to a PDMA report on losses caused by floods in the Ravi, Sutlej and Chenab rivers, as many as 127 citizens have lost their lives in various incidents during the recent floods.

Over 4.755 million people of 4,700 villages have been affected due to the flood situation in the rivers. As many as 2.09m animals have been relocated to safe locations during rescue and relief activities in the affected districts.

Relief Commissioner Nabeel Javaid said that Mangla Dam was 96 per cent full and Tarbela Dam was 100pc full.

He said that the Indian Bhakra Dam on the Sutlej River was 88pc full, Pong Dam was 99pc full, while the Thien Dam was 90pc full.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2025