Travelling across the Bambawali-Ravi-Bedian (BRB) Canal — one of the region’s worst-hit after the Ravi flooded Narowal district late last month — one can see signs of normalcy slowly returning.

In villages along the border with India, people are back in their fields, repairing link roads and watercourses. Tube wells once again irrigate rice fields, while youngsters fish in the river and in the ponds left behind by the flood. Speaking to them reveals a quiet resilience and determination to rebuild.

The river has now receded to its banks after a week of flooding, but the damage remains stark. Many residents watch as weakened homes crack or collapse.

Thousands of acres of water-sensitive crops such as vegetables, fodder and sesame lie flattened, leaving farmers counting losses. Rice and sorghum fields largely survived, but hundreds — if not thousands — of acres in low-lying areas were destroyed.

“Nature has its own ways of helping in the most testing times,” says 52-year-old Iqbal, a resident of village Kajla. He explains that after the floods, 72 hours of torrential rain spared farmers from total destruction.

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