Mass evacuations in eastern Pakistan as India releases water from swollen rivers
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistan has evacuated tens of thousands of people to safer areas after neighboring India released water from overflowing dams and swollen rivers into low-lying border regions, officials said Tuesday.
The move came a day after New Delhi alerted Islamabad about possible cross-border flooding, marking the first public diplomatic contact between the two nuclear-armed rivals in months.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority said it had issued an advance alert to its Punjabi counterparts about a surge in the Sutlej River and the risk of flooding, and that evacuations from various districts in the eastern Punjab province were underway.
In a statement, it said rescuers evacuated more than 14,000 people from Kasur, a district in Punjab province, while over 89,000 were moved to safer ground from the city of Bahawalnagar, near the Indian border.
https://apnews.com/article/pakistan-mass-evacuations-india-released-water-rains-4201f92cd951b36a2b9d9b534df1cd82