Historic Flooding Devastates Pakistan's Heartland
Punjab province, Pakistan's agricultural heartland and most populous region, is experiencing its worst flooding in recorded history as torrential monsoon rains combine with massive water releases from Indian dams to create a humanitarian catastrophe of unprecedented scale. As of September 18, 2025, over 4.7 million people have been affected, with 2.9 million displaced from their homes across the province.
The crisis began in late June 2025 with unusually intense pre-monsoon rains, but escalated dramatically in August when India released excess water from upstream dams on the Ravi, Chenab, and Sutlej rivers. This combination of natural rainfall and cross-border water management has created a perfect storm that has overwhelmed Punjab's drainage systems and flood defenses.
Scale of Destruction
The flooding has claimed over 1,000 lives nationwide, with Punjab accounting for approximately 300 fatalities. The province has witnessed the submersion of 4,700 villages, with entire districts going underwater. Over 2.2 million hectares of agricultural land—crucial for Pakistan's food security—have been inundated, wiping out harvests and devastating livestock populations.
Multiple breaches had to be made to protect major headworks including Qadirabad, Suleimanki, and Khanki from flood flows reaching up to one million cusecs. The Ravi River, which had significantly shrunk due to water diversions under the Indus Waters Treaty, received unprecedented flood flows that submerged settlements built on the former riverbed, affecting even parts of Lahore.