Pakistan floods leave children without milk as families lose everything

Severe food and water shortages are compounding the misery of families displaced by devastating floods across Punjab province in eastern Pakistan.

Survivors in Multan, Bahawalpur, Jhang and other hard-hit districts say they are struggling to find milk for children, clean drinking water and fodder for livestock -- even as mass evacuations continue.

Sohaib Mugheera Siddiqui, a resident of Jalalpur in southern Punjab who is helping with flood relief, told Nukta by phone that while camps have been set up since Tuesday morning, the situation remains dire.

“Drinking water, food, milk for toddlers, medicines and sanitary supplies for women are all in short supply,” he said, adding that the number of affected people is increasing faster than resources.

“Floodwater is just a few hundred meters away from my home. I had to shift my family from Jalalpur to Multan, but not everyone has that type of resources,” Siddiqui said.

He described impossible choices faced by relief workers: “At one time, you get calls from 10 people who are very close to you, and there are only three boats at hand. How would you choose whom to rescue or whom to give preference?”

Multan on the edge

Multan, about 350 kilometers (220 miles) southwest of Lahore, has emerged as one of the hardest-hit districts.

Embankments remain under severe threat, and officials fear that if the Sher Shah embankment breaks, at least 23 villages could be submerged, affecting more than 30,000 people.

Lawmakers Qasim Gillani and Abdul Qadir Gillani have appealed to residents to evacuate immediately.

Rescue 1122 teams are moving thousands to safety.

On Monday alone, more than 4,000 people and 524 animals were evacuated from Multan’s tehsils Jalalpur Pirwala, Shujabad and Multan city.

Province-wide, officials say over 270,000 people were rescued in the past 24 hours, and since the floods began, more than 2 million people and 1.5 million animals have been displaced.

Punjab Rescue Services Secretary Dr. Rizwan Naseer, who visited flood-hit embankments in Multan, praised rescue teams but acknowledged the scale of the challenge: “Ensuring people’s safety in these dire conditions is our top priority.”

High flood in major rivers

Meanwhile, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said major rivers remain in high flood.

The Sutlej River is flowing at 261,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) at Ganda Singh Wala near the Indian border, while the Chenab River has surged to 452,000 cusecs at Panjnad in southern Punjab. Both are considered “extremely high flood” levels.

A second flood surge has reached the Ravi-Chenab confluence, putting embankments near Multan under fresh strain.

Heavy monsoon rains are worsening the crisis.

In the past 24 hours, Faisalabad received 175 millimeters (7 inches) of rain, Multan 133 mm (5 inches) and Lahore 113 mm (4.4 inches), with downpours reported across the province.

PDMA has warned of flash flooding in Dera Ghazi Khan’s hill torrents and urban flooding in major cities, including Lahore and Faisalabad.

Since late June, Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) reports that at least 910 people have died and 1,044 others have been injured in flood- and rain-related incidents nationwide.