Flooding threatens towns in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Sept. 20 (UPI) -- Water pressure is weighing on two protective dams in Pakistan as higher water levels flooded roads leading to Sehwan and Bajara, officials said.

Security forces have evacuated at least 1,600 residents to safer locations, but officials report hundreds of people remain stranded, GEO News reported Monday. About 215 towns have been threatened by the flooding.

At least 1,680 houses have collapsed from flooding in Tehsil Sehwan, local authorities said.

Khairpur Nathan Shah was under 7-9 feet of water, officials said. Meanwhile, authorities reported portions of the highway between Bhan Saeedabad and Sehwan was under water, GEO Dawn reported.

Commenting on the flooding in Pakistan, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the widespread destruction will require donor countries to provide "so much more" when they meet in Belgium and Pakistan in the next two months.

"(The) upcoming meetings of the Friends of Democratic Pakistan in Brussels in October and the Pakistan Development Forum in Islamabad in November will help to further refine what it is we are committing and make sure that we deliver on those commitments," she said Sunday during a U.N. ministerial meeting on the flood emergency in Pakistan.

The floods that have devastated Pakistan have taken weeks to wreak their damage, and recovery "will take much longer than that," Clinton said, offering reassurances that the United States can be counted on for help. "And as the waters recede, the people of Pakistan must know that they will not be alone."