SAHIWAL: Recent floods in the Sutlej River caused extensive damage to link roads connecting villages to Pakpattan district, cutting off access for thousands of local farming families.

Approximately 20 main inter-village link roads and dozens of smaller routes, connecting over 60 villages and communities are either completely submerged or damaged, making them impassable.

The flooding has brought daily life to a standstill for more than 40,000 commuters. Sources said around 100,000 flood affected people have shifted from their homes to safer places due to the Sutlej flood.

Shahzad Hashim, EXEN highway department, says embankments along several key roads are completely destroyed and floodwater is not going down. These include the roads from Noora Rath Bund to Govt Primary School, Kund Qabil, Noora Rath Band to Abadi Haji Mahmood Rath and Abadi Moykay via Kund Shamas.

Other damaged routes connect Abadi Bili Dalawar to Check Dhola via Hussu Hsan Kay, Bait Bhattian and Jangay Joiya as well as Chiwk Marlay to Check Yaseen Kay, Kund Shamsudin Khan and all roads leading to Check Amir Sohra. These roads have a total length of more than 50km.

The district education authority has already closed down 30 public schools in tehsils of Arifwala and Pakpattan. Deputy Commissioner Asif Raza says the schools were shut for one week but the closure period had been extended because of extreme high flood.

The district administration data shows 100,000 acres cultivated land with 70,000 rural population has got affected in 76 villages across district Pakpattan. More than 5,000 cattle were recovered from the Sutlej.

The Pakpattan-Minchinabad road, which connects Pakpattan to Bahawalnagar district via the Baba Farid Bridge, remains open to all kinds of traffic. Though floodwater has receded from 10-12 feet to 4-5 feet in some areas, travel between villages is still impossible.

Shahzad Hashim, EXEN Highway Division, Pakpattan, says that all traffic is blocked and will not resume until the water fully subsides. “The C&W Department has set up warning camps at different locations with red flags to mark breached road pathways where water levels have dropped but deep breaches of 6-7 feet are still there.”

Hashim says that restoration work can only begin and loss can be assessed once the water level returns to zero.

According to a water discharge report from the Federal Flood Commission (FFD), Lahore, the Sutlej River is still having an extreme high flood with water crossing 311,000 cusecs at Head Ganda Singhwala and 150,000 cusecs at Head Sulemanki.

Mr Hashim adds that only 10km Noora Rath Road is under C&W department while the rest is under the domain of Zila Council, Pakpattan.

Published in Dawn, September 9th, 2025