Sindh power station faces flooding threat

AUTHORITIES in Pakistan were scrambling to protect a vital power station supplying electricity to millions of people against a growing threat of flooding, officials said on Monday (12).

The electricity plant in the district of Dadu in the southern province of Sindh, one of the worst affected areas, supplies power to six provincial districts.

Troops were busy strengthening a dike built in front of the station, a visit to the site showed last Sunday (11).

“All preventive measures have been taken already to save the grid in case any flooding happens,” Syed Murtaza Ali Shah, a top district official, said.

The comment followed orders from prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, reported by state broadcaster Radio Pakistan, to ensure the plant was not inundated.

On Monday, a dust storm in nearby Sehwan town uprooted hundreds of tents pitched at roadsides by people made homeless by the floods, as a fresh spell of rains begins to set in, officials said.

“If rains come, where would we go? We are sitting under open sky, we don’t know what to eat, what to cook,” said Muhammad Hasan, one of those impacted by the storm. “All the tents got uprooted by strong winds today, we do not know where to go. We are desperate.”

The Pakistan Meteorological Department said on Monday it expects more rain in the area in the next few days.

Sindh received 466 per cent more rain than average, and all the flood waters pass through Dadu (population 1.5 million), because of its location.