Karachi (HRNW) Sindh received 600% more rains during the current monsoon compared to yesteryears destroying 90% of crops, Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Murad Ali Shah said during a press briefing in Sukkur on Wednesday.
The catastrophic damage has now threatened food security in the province.
Murad Ali said the unprecedented floods and thundershowers claimed over 300 lives in the province, adding that at least 1,000 people were also injured.
Speaking on the occasion, the minister said that the scale of damage can be estimated by the fact that in 2010 only the right bank of the Indus River was flooded and in 2011 only the left bank, but this year entire province drowned.
The chief minister highlighted that Sindh received 350% more rainfall than the monthly average in July and 600% more than the August average.
Shah said as he speaks over 600,000 cusecs floodwater is passing from Sukkur.
“I visited 23 districts of the province and saw villages, cities and roads appear like rivers,” the top Sindh government representative told the media.
“People are trapped everywhere,” the minister exclaimed.
Murad Ali Shah said Padidan bore the brunt of 1,550mm rain this monsoon which only witnesses 50-55mm rainfall on average per year.
“In just five days, 800mm downpour lashed Padidan.”
Apart from the loss of hundreds of lives, around 10 million people were rendered homeless by the recent floods, the chief minister listed.
He added that around 1.5 million houses in villages were destroyed, while the government has not been able to compile the number of livestock that were swept away by the flood.
While sharing the damage statistics, the CM said a whopping 90% of crops standing over a million acres were completely destroyed by the incessant downpour and consequent riverine floods.
“At least 23 districts, 101 talukas and 5,718 dehs were adversely affected in this year’s catastrophic floods.”