By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan declared a national climate emergency and an agricultural emergency on Wednesday as relentless monsoon floods ravaged farmland, displaced millions and threatened to exacerbate food shortages in a country already grappling with economic pressures.
The announcement by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif came amid a surge in deaths and destruction from weeks of heavy rains that have swollen rivers and inundated vast swaths of the nation’s breadbasket in Punjab province. Nationwide, at least 928 people have died in floods, rains and related incidents since the monsoon season began on June 26, according to the National Disaster Management Authority, with thousands injured and millions forced from their homes.
“The floods have caused a lot of destruction,” Sharif told a cabinet meeting in Islamabad. “Today, after the consultation, the cabinet is announcing a climate emergency and an agricultural emergency.”
Punjab, the country’s most populous province and its primary agricultural region, has suffered the most severe impacts from the latest deluge that began in late August. The Provincial Disaster Management Authority there reported 66 deaths, 21 million people displaced or evacuated, and about 1.95 million acres of farmland submerged as the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers overflowed following record rainfall.
Sharif said the government would establish a high-level committee led by Planning Minister Ahsan Iqbal, including federal ministers, senior bureaucrats and the chief secretaries of all four provinces, to coordinate relief and recovery efforts. He also announced plans for an apex-level meeting with provincial chief ministers to develop policies for addressing the crisis.
While pledging federal support, Sharif emphasized the need for provincial involvement: “Only together can we reduce this damage.”
“Thousands of Pakistanis have lost lives in these floods,” he added, according to state-run Radio Pakistan. He stressed the formulation of a comprehensive roadmap and strategy to combat climate change, which he said had been pummeling the country with recurrent catastrophic effects, as reported by the Associated Press of Pakistan.
“We cannot deal with climate change overnight,” Sharif said, noting that Pakistan cannot tackle the challenge alone and that everyone has to unite to do so.
The prime minister’s declaration followed calls from the Pakistan Business Forum, which had urged authorities to declare an agricultural emergency. The group warned that floods had destroyed up to 60 percent of the rice crop and severely damaged sugarcane and cotton, putting national output targets for rice, maize, sugarcane and cotton in jeopardy. It estimated the country might need to import as much as 5 million tons of wheat to stabilize prices.
A preliminary assessment by the forum pegged crop losses at 60 percent for rice, 30 percent for sugarcane and 35 percent for cotton, with damage concentrated in Punjab’s key divisions of Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Sahiwal. Ahmad Jawad, the group’s chief organizer, said the disaster could shave 0.8 percent off GDP this year.
Brokerage firm Arif Habib revised its growth forecast downward to 3.2 percent, estimating agricultural losses at 302 billion rupees ($1 billion), accounting for nearly three-fourths of the total 409 billion rupees ($1.4 billion) in flood damages. The firm also projected import pressures of nearly $1.93 billion in fiscal 2026, including more than 700,000 tons of cotton costing over $1 billion, and warned that inflation could climb to 7.2 percent from earlier estimates of 5.5 percent due to food price surges from shortages.
As floodwaters from Punjab’s swollen rivers flow southward into Sindh province via the Indus, officials warned of heightened risks to riverine communities and major towns. At the Guddu Barrage in upper Sindh, more than 500,000 cusecs of water were recorded on Wednesday, signaling potential inundation downstream.
In Karachi, Sindh’s provincial capital and Pakistan’s largest city and financial hub, authorities rescued more than 300 people this week after torrential downpours flooded low-lying areas. “So far, 325 people have been rescued,” said Salman Shah, director general of Sindh’s Provincial Disaster Management Authority.
A local charity reported four deaths after a van was swept into a stream, and Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah told reporters that four people were killed in Malir during the night. He said people were rescued from a truck near the Malir River in the morning.
Rainfall measurements on Wednesday included 31.5 millimeters in the upscale Defense Housing Authority neighborhood, 18 millimeters at an air force base in the city’s west, 15 millimeters in the port district of Keamari, and over 13 millimeters in northern suburbs.
Government emergency service Rescue 1122 conducted evacuations in flooded neighborhoods such as Surjani, Abdul Rahim Goth and Saadi Town. The chief minister toured affected areas with senior ministers, urging residents to heed safety instructions.
The National Disaster Management Authority forecasted more rain over the next 24 to 48 hours in parts of Sindh, including Karachi, Hyderabad and Sukkur, as well as neighboring Balochistan province, with potential for urban flooding, traffic disruptions and flash floods in mountain valleys. Officials advised avoiding unnecessary travel, parking vehicles in safe areas and steering clear of submerged roads and underpasses.
In its latest update, Sindh’s disaster authority reported 2,656 people displaced in the last 12 hours, bringing the total since Aug. 28 to 149,683. The province has established 528 relief camps and 169 medical camps, treating 8,068 patients in the last 12 hours for a cumulative total of 63,427 since late August. Additionally, 10,933 livestock were evacuated in the last 12 hours, raising the total rescued to 410,951.
River flow data from Punjab’s disaster authority at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday showed heavy volumes in the eastern tributaries of the Indus. The Chenab carried 250,005 cusecs at Trimmu Headworks near Jhang, the Ravi had 100,622 cusecs at Sidhnai Headworks downstream of Multan, and the Sutlej peaked at 530,152 cusecs at Punjnad Headworks, where it joins the Indus. Farther south, the Indus recorded 493,281 cusecs at Guddu Barrage.
Sindh’s chief minister said the province was prepared for flows up to 900,000 cusecs, with more than 500,000 cusecs already reaching Guddu. “We have established relief camps where people will come, and health camps where more than 5,000 people have been treated,” he said, adding that over one million livestock had been vaccinated.
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