A broken dyke is seen after it was intentionally breached by Pakistani soldiers to divert flood water to protect the main southern city of Multan yesterday.

 

Pakistani authorities were struggling to protect the historic city of Multan from raging flood waters yesterday.

Troops and rescue workers were evacuating people from Multan, Pakistan’s fifth largest city, in Punjab province, as officials of the National Disaster Management Authority (DMA) warned rivers would remain flooded for another week.

The city has an estimated population of 10mn, and is known as a centre of the mystic Sufi branch of Islam, with numerous old mosques and bazaars.

Authorities in Pakistan were struggling to cope with the devastation wrought by the floods and landslides brought on by heavy monsoon rains since September 3.

Around 280 people have been killed in Pakistan’s Punjab and Pakistan-administered Kashmir region, DMA spokesman Ahmed Kamal said.

The flooding would continue for another week before starting to subside, Pakistan’s Disaster Management Authority spokesman Ahmed Kamal said.

Paksitan’s finance ministry said on Thursday flooding might affect more than 5mn people.

Around 2mn people have been displaced in Pakistan’s Punjab and the southern province of Sindh, Kamal said.

 

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