AdvertisementVillagers along with their livestock evacuate on a boat after an increase in floodwater levels following the overflowing of the Chenab River in Multan on Aug 30, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Shahid Saeed Mirza)30 Aug 2025 07:24PM Bookmark Bookmark WhatsApp Telegram Facebook Twitter Email LinkedInRead a summary of this article on FAST.Get bite-sized news via a newcards interface. Give it a try.Click here to return to FAST Tap here to return to FASTFAST LAHORE, Pakistan: Nearly half a million people have been displaced by flooding in eastern Pakistan after days of heavy rain swelled rivers, relief officials said Saturday (Aug 30), 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."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.Rescuers evacuate residents after an increase in floodwater levels following the overflowing of the Chenab River in Multan on Aug 30, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Shahid Saeed Mirza)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.Flood-affected victims eat lunch at a makeshift shelter inside a school in Lahore on Aug 30, 2025. (Photo: AFP/Arif Ali)Rains continued throughout Saturday, including in Lahore, the country's second-largest city, where an entire housing development was half submerged by water.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.Floods affect 1.2 million, displace nearly 250,000 in eastern PakistanPakistan blows up dam embankment as flood surge loomsAs Pakistan battles monsoon floods, experts fear extreme weather will worsen with climate changeSource: AFP/grNewsletterMorning BriefSubscribe to CNA’s Morning BriefAn automated curation of our top stories to start your day.Sign up for our newslettersGet our pick of top stories and thought-provoking articles in your inboxSubscribe hereGet the CNA appStay updated with notifications for breaking news and our best storiesDownload hereGet WhatsApp alertsJoin our channel for the top reads for the day on your preferred chat appJoin hereAlso worth readingContent is loading...