At least 254 people have now been killed due to rains and devastating floods in Pakistan with authorities racing against both time and tide to save the people from the rising waters, officials said today.
The rains lashed vast areas of the country last week and since have stopped but the floods triggered by the heavy showers are still out of control.
Reema Zubari of National Disaster Management Authority said in a statement that 179 people have been killed in Punjab province, 64 in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and 11 in Gilgit-Baltistan.
More than 6,000 houses have been damaged in Punjab and close to seven million people affected by floods.
The Chenab river is in high flood and raging down from central to south Punjab, leaving a trail of devastation.
Today the authorities breached a major embankment along the river to save Jhang city and the Trimmu headwork on the Chenab.
Efforts were also on to protect Multan city and already decisions have been made to cause artificial breaches at certain points to disperse water.
It will inundate more villages in addition to over 2,000 villages already affected by floods.
Poor planning and lack of water management is visible everywhere as officials have no answer to the floods apart from making breaches in the embankments which floods farmlands and poor rural localities.