DADU: The Manchar Lake flooded the outskirts of Bhan Syedabad on Friday, despite the government’s best efforts to relieve pressure on the overflowing lake by controlled cuts.
On the city’s outskirts, the lake’s water entered the Indus Link Canal before flowing into the Dal Branch.
Due to the seasonal nature of Dal Branch, a 4-foot-wide breach developed near to the CNG pump on the major bypass west of Bhan Syedabad as a result of the stream’s inability to withstand the strain.
“The branch was sealed, however breaches in the Indus Link Canal forced the water into it and under pressure, the branch gave way.” Bhan Syedabad Assistant Engineer Irrigation, Vijay Kumar was quoted as saying in Daily Dawn.
Residents hurriedly constructed a ring embankment around the city when their initial attempts to seal the breach failed, but they had little faith that it would save the region.
Dal branch fracture caused the suburbs to flood; the lake is still rising despite the water’s discharge into the Indus River. The water from Manchar Lake has yet to enter the Indus River to the west of the city.
Meanwhile, the images, captured by NASA’s Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 satellites, show breaches in the banks of Manchar Lake, some of which have been made intentionally by local authorities to prevent the overfilled lake from spilling into densely populated areas in the Indus River Valley.
The images show the pre-flood situation on July 25 and then detail the growing extent of the flooding on August 28 and September 5.
Some 100,000 people living in several hundred villages scattered across the valley are at risk of flooding due to the breaches, NASA officials wrote in a statement.
