SUKKUR, July 4: At least nine villages and 5,000 acres land inundated when a 300-foot-wide breach occurred in Gehno Wah in Thull taluka on the midnight of Monday and Tuesday. The breach occurred at about 2:00am near Nihal Behrani village.

Some 150 thatched houses along with households and other valuables were washed away with the strong current of water.

Affected villages are: Nihal Behrani, Dur Mohammad Khoso, Noor Mohammad Behrani, Sobho Banglani, Gulsher Banglani, Peeral, Manik Behrani, Mir Hassan Nandwani and Mohammad Ali Khoso.

Residents of the affected villages have taken shelter on the embankment of the waterway.

Villagers Bilawal, Dost Ali, Hamid and Noor Mohammad Behrani said that the breach was the biggest of its kind.

They said that despite timely information to officials of the irrigation department and police, no one turned up to rescue the villagers from the calamity.

They said that houses along with household, cattle, grain stocks and other valuables had been flushed with the gushing water.

Two fish farms were also destroyed, they said.

They said that embankments of the waterway had become weak but irrigation officials did not pay any heed to it.

The villagers on self-help basis plugged the breach after 15 hours of hectic efforts.