Pakistan evacuates a million people as farming belt hit by worst floods in decades

Eight-month-old Noor Fatima sits on the lap of her mother as they are evacuated by the members of Rescue 1122 from a flooded area, following monsoon rains and rising water levels in Qadirabad village near the Chenab River in Punjab province, Pakistan August 28, 2025. -Reuters

QADIRABAD, Pakistan: Pakistani authorities have evacuated more than a million people from homes in Punjab province this week, officials said on Thursday (Aug 28), as the worst flooding there in four decades caused havoc in hundreds of villages and submerged vital grains crops.

Torrential monsoon rain and neighbouring India's release of excess water from its dams swelled three rivers that flow into the eastern province, forcing authorities to breach river banks in some places - causing flooding in more than 1,400 villages, Punjab's disaster management authority said.