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MUZAFFARGARH Troops and irrigation officials are trying hard to save Muzaffargarh town by plugging breaches in the Tulhairy branch canal, but the situation will remain critical till Thursday, District Coordination Officer (DCO) Farasat Iqbal said on Tuesday.
An irrigation official said a fresh flood of 750,000 cusecs in the Indus was likely to hit the already inundated areas of Kot Addu, Sanawan, Gurmani and Qasba Gujrat.
Almost the entire Kot Addu tehsil is under water.
Muzaffargarh looks like a haunted town as most of its inhabitants have migrated. The district administration had ordered evacuation of the town on Monday morning, forcing about 750,000 residents, including over 300,000 displaced people, to leave because of looming floods in the Chenab and breaches in the canal.
The flow of the Chenab is still increasing. The DCO said all dykes protecting the town were being monitored.
Evacuation of the locals and those coming from villages flooded earlier continued.
All shops, restaurants and relief camps were shut and the people left there are awaiting transport and facing an extreme shortage of food.
Shaukat Ali of Budh, who was heading towards Multan on a motorcycle with his family, said petrol was not available and his children were hungry because they did not have any food and milk.
Most of the localities, including the Faisal Stadium, Mohallah Sheikhupura and Railway Phatak, were empty except for a few people sitting outside their homes.
Tahir Shah of Railway Phatak said his family was in Multan and he was guarding his house. He said most of the families had left one or two people to guard their areas.
FLOODS
A high flood in the Chenab has inundated more parts of Muradabad, Loharwala, Jatoi and Alipur.
Water from a breach in the Muzaffargarh canal near Nusratwala is heading towards Shah Jamal and Muzaffargarh town. It is 8km away from the Muzaffargarh thermal power plant.
Officials said the plant was safe because there was a 5km desert range between it and Adda Lakhi on the Mahmood Kot road.
There are six breaches in the Muzaffargarh canal and about the same number in the Taunsa-Punjnad canal that have submerged the Kot Addu and Muzaffargarh tehsils for the past seven days.
Traffic between Muzaffargarh and Dera Ghazi Khan is suspended because of five to six feet deep water on the road.
Patients are facing immense difficulties because of the closure of the district headquarters hospital for the past three days. Doctors and paramedics have left the hospital for safe places.
The administration has sent all the 45 nurses of the hospital to the cardiology institute in Multan.
MIANWALI
Floodwater has again entered Purana Mari, Kalabagh and the kutcha area spread on both sides of the Indus from the Jinnah barrage to the Chashma barrage. People are again moving towards safe places.
