THATTA, Aug 22: The entire Raju Nizamani locality, with a population of about 7,000, and 15 adjoining villages were inundated by the Indus floods on Sunday.

Floodwaters have also entered the kutcha area along the river's right bank near the National Highway.

Over 720 houses were submerged in the villages of the Memon, Mallah, Syed, Turk, Sama, Gambhir and other communities. Most of the people of the area have moved to safety carrying as much of their belongings as was possible.

Meanwhile, waters gushing from a breach in dyke of the Right Bank Outfall Drain which developed on Saturday night mounted pressure on the KB feeder upper and the authorities diverted the surge through the Jherruk-Tando Hafiz Shah channel.

Officials said part of the water from the RBOD breach was streaming into the Keenjhar lake, but the level in the reservoir was rising and efforts were being made to divert the flow towards the German Dhoro on the National Highway.

Floodwaters have reached the Sonda Hilaya embankment along the highway.

Private protective dykes, called zamidari bunds, are a major threat to the infrastructure in the area. Dawn

MPA Humera Alwani of the PPP told that the coastal settlement of Kotri Allah Rakhio Shah and 20 villages in Ghorabari taluka, including Khamoon Walasiyo, Achar Khaati, Mohammad Tandio, Natho Kanai, Badal Babar, Soomar and Mohammad Bariryo, were under water.

She said 13,208 affected people, about 5,000 children among them, were living in 200 tents and schools.

The MPA said that at least 5,000 tents were required in the area. People in the Ghorabari camp, she said, had not received food for 10 days. She said there were no medical facilities in the relief camps.

Ms Alwani said two babies had been born in the camps where there was no gynaecologist and no medical help.

She said there were more than 300 pregnant women in relief camps in Thatta.

Sindh Culture Minister Sassui Palijo, who is chairperson of the Thatta district relief monitoring team, has asked the provincial chief secretary to arrange heavy machinery to immediately plug the RBOD breach.

She said the breach should not be allowed to widen like the one in the Tori embankment in upper Sindh.

Ms Palijo told reporters that the administration had evacuated 2,500 of about 4,000 people living in Sher Mohammad Khoso, Keti Khoso, Hassan Turk and adjoining villages.

She said boats and hovercraft of the army were helping to evacuate the people. Mohammad Hussain Khan adds from Hyderabad:

The water flow through the Kotri barrage may surpass its designed discharge capacity of 875,000 cusecs.

A flow of 857,860 cusecs was recorded upstream and 835,505 cusecs downstream at 8pm on Sunday.

Qadir Palejo, a barrage control room official, said the waters were passing safely and all the 44 gates were working in accordance with the standard operating procedure.

Officials said the flow was likely to increase to up to 925,000 cusecs, but the barrage would withstand the pressure.

The off-taking canals of the barrage were not getting full supply, especially the Kalri Baghar (KB) feeder which supplies water to Karachi through the Keenjhar lake. The canal runs parallel to the under-construction RBOD-II at some places.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah visited the barrage and was told that the structure was safe. The chief minister also visited the Bhanote embankment.

He told reporters that the floods were safely passing through Matiari district and there was no threat to embankments in the area.

Unnarpur, Petaro, Ramzan and Siddique Rajar villages in the kutcha area of Kotri taluka were inundated on Sunday.

People of the Rajar villages claimed that their area had been inundated because the incomplete structure of the RBOD-II was blocking flows.

The water level in the Indus was rising once again at the Dadu-Moro bridge after dropping by about two decimal points over the past two days.

Officials said a drop in flows at the bridge would lead to a decrease in pressure on the Kotri barrage.

The Sujala-Munarki embankment in Thatta district was being closely monitored. FIRING:

A guard of Matiari Revenue DDO opened fire during a melee at the time of distribution of relief goods in Bhitshah, in the presence of Minister of State for Religious Affairs Shagufta Jumani.

Talking to a TV channel, the official claimed that some of the people were carrying weapons and incidents of robbery had increased since their arrival in the district.

He said the displaced people should be shifted to Jamshoro and Karachi in accordance with a government announcement.

The flows at Guddu and Sukkur, meanwhile, were decreasing. At Guddu, the upstream discharge was 768,421 cusecs and downstream 762,240 cusecs and at Sukkur 877,426 cusecs and 837,402 cusecs, respectively.

Because of a reverse flow in the Tando Hafiz Shah distributary and incomplete structure of the RBOD-II, floodwaters entered the KB feeder in Thatta district.