Pakistan Evacuates Half a Million People Stranded by Floods

Nearly half a million people have been displaced by flooding in eastern Pakistan after days of heavy rain swelled rivers, relief officials said Saturday, as they carried out a massive rescue operation.

Three transboundary rivers that cut through Punjab province, which borders India, have swollen to exceptionally high levels, affecting more than 2,300 villages.

Nabeel Javed, the head of the Punjab government's relief services, said 481,000 people stranded by the floods have been evacuated, along with 405,000 livestock. 

Overall, more than 1.5 million people have been affected by the flooding.

(A milkman crosses through floodwater at Chak Ali Sher village in Wazirabad district on August 28, 2025, after the government issued a flood alert for riverside areas of Punjab province. Photo: AFP/RSS)

"This is the biggest rescue operation in Punjab's history," Irfan Ali Khan, the head of the province's disaster management agency, added at a press conference.

He said more than 800 boats and over 1,300 rescue personnel were involved in evacuating families from affected areas, mostly located in rural areas near the banks of the three rivers.

The latest spell of monsoon flooding since the start of the week has killed 30 people, he said, with hundreds left dead throughout the heavier than usual season that began in June.

"No human life is being left unattended. All kinds of rescue efforts are continuing," Khan said.

More than 500 relief camps have been set up to provide shelter to families and their livestock.

In the impoverished town of Shahdara, on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Lahore, dozens of families were gathered in a school after fleeing the rising water in their homes.

"Look at all the women sitting with me -- they're helpless and distressed. Everyone has lost everything. Their homes are gone, their belongings destroyed. 
We couldn't even manage to bring clothes for their children," 40-year-old cleaner Tabassum Suleman told AFP.

Rains continued throughout Saturday, including in Lahore, the country's second-largest city, where an entire housing development was half submerged by water.

(A woman stands near her submerged home, after floodwaters entered from the overflowing Ravi river in Shahdara, Lahore on August 29, 2025. Water has gushed into the eastern province, Pakistan's breadbasket and home to about half of its 255 million people, with three transboundary rivers swelling beyond their banks. Photo: AFP/RSS)

Retired shop owner Sikandar Mughal attempted to access his home but the water was still too high.

"When the situation got worse and the water level reached the garage of my house, I took my bike and ran for my life," the 61-year-old said.

"It's been two days now since I left. I did not even get a chance to get my clothes so that I could change."

In mid-August, more than 400 Pakistanis were killed in a matter of days by landslides caused by torrential rains on the other side of the country, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, close to Afghanistan and the only province held by the opposition to the federal authorities.

In 2022, unprecedented monsoon floods submerged a third of Pakistan, with the southern province of Sindh the worst affected area.

AFP/RSS

ADB announces 3 mln USD aid to support Pakistan's flood relief

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has announced three million U.S. dollars in emergency assistance to support Pakistan's relief operations following devastating floods across the country.

"Pakistan is experiencing devastating flooding that has displaced families and communities, and ADB stands firmly with Pakistan during this crisis," ADB President Masato Kanda said in a statement Friday.

(A general view shows the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor complex partially submerged in floodwaters near the Pakistan-India border in Kartarpur on August 28, 2025. Pakistan authorities blew up an embankment next to a monsoon-engorged dam on August 27 as flooding submerged one of the world's holiest Sikh sites. Three transboundary rivers in the east of the country have swollen to exceptionally high levels as a result of heavy rains across the border in India. Photo: AFP/RSS)

The grant, to be provided from the Asia Pacific Disaster Response Fund, reflects ADB's commitment to both immediate humanitarian needs and long-term recovery, he noted.

At least 22 people were killed in floods over the past 24 hours, while more than 1.5 million people have been affected by the disaster, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. Officials have warned that another spell of heavy rains could further aggravate the situation.  

Xinhua/RSS