LARKANA: In the wake of overflow and breaches in Khirthar canal, the district administration on Wednesday asked the residents of five areas near Ratodero town — Bossan, Fatehpur, Wasayo Bhutto, Pawaro and Ghulam Hussain Hakro — to move to safe places.
The breaches sparked panic in the town and some families had already left their homes.
Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah said waters thrown up by the breaches had spread over an area covering about 2.5 square kilometres.
The torrents, however, posed threat no Ratodero and Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto because of their slow advance. He said the waters were flowing towards Garhi Khairo.
The floodwaters gushing from breaches in Jacobabad district were about 30km from Ratodero.
The chief minister took an aerial view of the area along with provincial ministers Agha Siraj Durrani, Ayaz Soomro, Jam Saifullah Dharejo and adviser Jameel Soomro before taking decisions about cuts to be made to divert floodwaters to save Ratodero and Garhi Khuda Bakhsh Bhutto.
The administration got down to building a four-kilometre-long embankment around Garhi Khuda Bakhsh.
The village is the resting place of former prime ministers Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto. Heavy machinery was sent from Sukkur for the work.
The Ratodero-Jacobabad road was clogged with vehicles shifting residents to safe places.
Irrigation officials began diverting floodwaters towards Salar Shakh by cutting the road at two places.
Shafqat Wadho, the superintending engineer of Saifullah Magsi branch, said the waters would be released into Hammal lake through the RBOD-III and then the Main Nara Valley drain.
He said the flood protective embankment at the Zero Point of Hammal lake, near Ghaibidero in Qambar-Shahdadkot district, was incapable of withstanding the mounting pressure.
A breach in the RBOD-III also occurred near Jatak village, triggering a flow towards Warah taluka.
Qambar-Shahdadkot DCO Yaseen Shar said evacuation of vulnerable areas was under way and army helicopters had rescued over 150 people from Qubo Saeed Khan.
“Marooned people from adjoining areas have been converging on Qubo Saeed Khan so that they can be rescued by authorities,” Mr Yaseen said.
He said floodwaters around Shahdadkot had become stagnant and would take several days to recede. The DCO expressed fears that a fresh deluge expected from breaches in Khirthar canal at RD-52, near Mir Mohammed Brohi and Lakhapur villages, could create more problems.
The DCO said some families were returning to Shahdadkot against the authorities’ advice and the danger was not over.
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