LAHORE: Authorities in Punjab blew up on Wednesday morning a strategic embankment at Athara Hazari on the right side of Chenab after the high flood in the river washed away another on the left side near Jhang city.

Although the breaches saved Jhang and Athara Hazari from complete devastation, they caused inundation of a vast area in the two regions, badly affecting life there.

Water and Power Minister Khawaja Asif said in parliament and a Punjab government official told Dawn that the breach was made at 10am. At the time of the breach the discharge in the river at Trimu was below 500,000 cusecs. The level recorded at 600,000 cusecs at about 7pm was gradually rising.

A peak of over 600,000 cusecs was expected in Chenab at Trimu on Wednesday and over 800,000 cusecs by Friday. The breach was planned to be made when the peak exceeded the Trimu headworks’ designed capacity of 642,000 cusecs to protect the barrage.

But irrigation authorities claimed that the water level had reached the critical gauge and the embankment had to be blown up to save Jhang and adjoining towns.

A senior official at the Punjab irrigation department said the breach had been made to protect Jhang and downstream Trimu barrage from the gushing floodwater entering there from Jhaloana.

The river earlier eroded a protective dyke near village Vijhlana on the Jhang-Multan-Bhakkar highway which was immediately submerged.

The floodwater also entered villages around the Jhang-Shorkot railway line and Jhang-Multan road.

Irrigation officials said the embankment was first breached at 8.50am, but since the gap created was insufficient to release the pressure from Jhang, it was again dynamited after some hours. “We have succeeded in stopping the floodwater from reaching Jhang city,” one official said.

Athara Hazari and Ahmadpur Sial were submerged after the breach. Crops on thousands of acres were damaged.

The two villages have a population of 100,000 each and, according to the officials, they had already been evacuated.

The irrigation authorities said the floodwater which entered the villages through the eroded embankment near Jhang would be drained through Trimu-Sidhnai link canal.

The Flood Forecasting Division said the discharge at Trimu was 440,809 cusecs between 1am and 4am on Wednesday. It remained at 509,400 cusecs from 5am to 11am and was likely to rise to 750,000 cusecs over the next 24 hours.

Reports from districts suggested that about 200 villages had been submerged because of the breaches. The unexpected breach on the Jhang side created panic among people and the authorities, but major devastation was averted by the timely breaching of the Athara Hazari embankment.

According to the Punjab Disaster Management Authority, 178 people have so far lost their lives in rain- and flood-related incidents in Sialkot and Jhang regions. Crops over 527,972 acres have been damaged and 3,326 head of cattle have perished.

It said relief measures were being taken in Sialkot and other areas where floodwater was receding. About 16 helicopters and 145 boats are being used to evacuate people from the Jhang region and provide food and medicines to the affected people.

Administrations in the flood-hit districts have been provided Rs100 million each to purchase and distribute relief goods among the affected people.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2014