New evacuation orders have been issued in low-lying areas of Pakistan’s Punjab province amid a heavy flood warning, with the region experiencing its worst flooding on record.
The Pakistan Meteorological Department posted on X on Monday that rains were persisting across the country as “another intense monsoon system is expected to bring exceptional downpours in southern parts during the next two days”.
It added that “widespread heavy to very heavy rain thundershowers accompanied by windstorms” were expected to hit areas on Monday.
Rains persist across Pakistan as another intense monsoon system is expected to bring exceptional downpours in Southern parts during next two days.#MonsoonAlert #RainfallUpdate #WeatherUpdate #RainInPakistan #Monsoon2025 #PakistanWeather #RainyDays #HeavyRainfall #StaySafe pic.twitter.com/1ancjiLfag
— Pak Met Department محکمہ موسمیات (@pmdgov) September 8, 2025
With an evacuation order issued to communities near the swollen Chenab, Sutlej, and Ravi rivers, Al Jazeera’s Kamal Hyder, reporting from Multan in Punjab, explained that the situation was “not under control”.
“We have reports from early this morning that Jalalpur Pirwala, which is 90km [56 miles] from Multan … that half a million people are stuck after the water inundated their villages; some of them are seeking protection under rooftops,” he said.
“There aren’t sufficient boats to evacuate these people. Helicopter operations have been called in, but the weather is also not good,” he added.
With the rain continuing, Hyder stressed that the situation was a “huge calamity” with villages and houses destroyed, but also the country now having to reel from losing crops due to the destruction of farmland.
In Multan, located between the Sutlej and Chenab rivers, floodwaters have breached at least three embankments, inundating dozens of villages.
Jalalpur Pirwala has been among the worst-hit places, with floodwaters submerging homes, farmland, and standing crops.
At least five people were killed on Saturday when a rescue boat carrying 30 people capsized near Multan.
Meanwhile, India alerted Pakistan of high floods on the Sutlej River on Sunday, warning that the monsoon rain would affect downstream districts.
New Delhi has been relaying such warnings through diplomatic channels rather than through the Indus Waters Treaty, which governed water sharing between the neighbouring countries, after India left the agreement in April following an attack on Indian-administered Kashmir that resulted in the deaths of 26 tourists, which India blames on Pakistan.
India has also been affected, but less so, by the flooding in its own Punjab region. Experts say global warming has worsened the scale of monsoon rains, and both nations are now suffering.
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