• Irrigation dept says water levels receding after four of seven cracks fixed
• Flood survey teams collect data of 27,500 affected people in three days

LAHORE: Flood devastation continues to grip southern Punjab as three breaches at the Noraja Bhutta embankment along the Sutlej River have inundated 28 mouzas across Multan, Bahawalpur and Lodhran districts, displacing thousands and causing extensive damage to infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the flood survey teams collected the data of 27,500 affected people in Punjab in the first three days since the launch.

The Noraja Bhutta embankment, which initially broke at seven locations 20 days ago due to heavy water flow, has left several villages submerged under six to eight feet of floodwater.

These villages include Noraja Bhutta, Bahadurpur, Jhangra, Kotla Chakar, Tarut Basharat, Basti Lang, Basti Kanu, Depalpur, Khairpur Dha, Kandeer, Jhaiyu, Deepal, Daily Rajanpur, Belaywala, Dunyapur, Muradpur, Soiwala and Sabra. The persistent pressure has led to widespread destruction of homes and property.

The breaches have severely impacted the M5 motorway and Gilani Road, with floodwater crossing the motorway and forming a lake between the two routes. Damage has been reported at five to six points along the motorway, prompting authorities to execute a controlled breach at Gilani Road to divert water toward the Chenab River and prevent further deterioration.

As a result, the M5 motorway has remained closed from Uch Sharif interchange to Jalalpur Pirwala for the past 15 days, disrupting traffic between southern and central Punjab, stranding thousands of vehicles and forcing commuters onto hazardous alternate routes.

A district administration official told Dawn on condition of anonymity that floodwater continues to flow from the three breaches, although the water level has begun to recede slightly due to a drop in Sutlej River flow from 80,000 to 20,000 cusecs.

He said that many affected residents remain in relief camps near Lodhran, Ahmadpur and other areas, awaiting the complete closure of the breaches.

He said that the floodwater is currently crossing the M5 motorway through culverts and moving towards the Chenab River.

Multan Irrigation Department Chief Engineer Nawaz Bajwa said that four of the seven cracks at the Noraja Bhutta Flood Bank in Jalalpur Pirwala have been repaired, with work on the remaining three progressing rapidly.

Punjab Minister for Irrig­ation Kazim Ali Pirzada also noted that the restoration of the flood bank is underway and that water levels are gradually receding in the affected areas.

He said that a loss assessment survey is being conducted and that relief packages will be distributed accordingly.

Flood survey

The Punjab government on Sunday kicked off a survey to assess the losses suffered by people in the province due to recent floods but refrained from giving any timeline for completing the exercise or for the start of compensation payments to the more than four million affected residents.

Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz was informed at a meeting on Tuesday that flood survey teams have collected data of 27,500 people. The teams have also completed the survey of 48,071 acres of flood-affected land, besides obtaining data of 8,305 houses destroyed by the flood.

The teams also obtained records of 1,712 livestock killed during the flood. She was also briefed that 1,429 flood survey teams had been mobilised in flood-affected areas in 26 districts of Punjab.

She directed the commissioners, deputy commissioners and assistant commissioners to support and monitor the survey teams.

The Punjab government said that 2,200 survey teams comprising 10,000 members of the Pakistan Army, revenue, agriculture, and livestock departments, and district administration would carry out the survey.

Full compensation to the affected families — Rs1 million for a destroyed house, Rs500,000 for a partially damaged house, Rs500,000 for loss of livestock, and Rs20,000 per acre (up to 12 acres) for farmers — will be provided based on the survey report, it said.

Zulqernain Tahir also contributed to this report

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2025