Floods devastate hundreds of villages across Punjab

Aid workers warned that bloated rivers would soon surge into the country's south, prompting more evacuations.

This year's monsoon season has caused the worst flooding in Pakistan in living memory and already killed more than 1,500 people. The UN scrambled to provide food and other assistance to some 3.2 million affected people in a nation already struggling with an Islamist militancy and a poor economy.

After causing huge destruction in Pakistan's volatile north-west, floodwaters deluged villages and some urban centres in Punjab, the richest and most populous province. The army used boats and helicopters to move stranded villagers in the area to higher ground.

Water levels were so high in large tracts of Kot Addu and the nearby area of Layyah in the south of the province that only treetops and uppermost floors of some buildings were visible.

Military spokesman Major General Nadir Zeb told reporters at least 30,000 people have been rescued from flood-hit zones in Kot Addu and nearby areas over the previous 72 hours. He warned that more flooding was expected, as more rains were forecast in the next few days.

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"People must co-operate with us, and they must leave those areas where floods are going to hit," he said.

The Punjab Relief and Crisis Management Department (RCMD) said 1,343 villages were affected and more than 25,000 houses destroyed.

Sixteen people have been killed in the province.

"Announcements were made in mosques and army people were telling us about the upcoming flood, but we thought they were just scaring us," said a tearful Nazir Sahoo from the rooftop of his almost submerged single-storey house in Deira Din Panah.

At least 1.3 million acres of crops have been destroyed in the Punjab agricultural heartland alone, the RCMD said.

The loss of farm produce is one reason the UN has warned of serious food shortages, and the World Food Programme has estimated that 1.8 million people will need to be fed over the next month.

Monsoon season in Pakistan usually lasts about three months, through to mid-September. In a typical year, the country gets an average 137mm of rainfall during the monsoon season. This year it has already received 160mm, said Muhammad Hanif, head of the National Weather Forecasting Centre in Islamabad.

The rains are falling about 25 to 30 per cent above normal rates, Mr Hanif said. The north-west, which has been hit the hardest, experienced "once in a century" rains, and can expect more wet weather in coming days, though at normal levels that should allow some recovery. The vast majority of deaths have been reported in that region.

Punjab in the country's east, and Sindh province in the south, however, should expect significant rainfall, he said.

At least 47 people have been killed in Punjab since flooding began in late July, Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority said. Nearly 1,000 villages have been affected and some 15,000 houses destroyed in the province.

The loss of farm produce is one reason the UN has warned of serious food shortages, and the World Food Programme has estimated that 1.8 million people will need to be fed over the next month.