Pakistan flooding: Last-ditch efforts keep large lake from spilling over into villages

Sept. 7 (UPI) -- A swelling lake in Pakistan that has caused serious concern about more flooding after a summer full of heavy monsoon rains has lowered some and the threat has receded a bit, officials said on Wednesday.

Lake Manchar, Pakistan's largest, was close to spilling over on Tuesday, which prompted authorities to evacuate nearby areas. Efforts to prevent the overflow, they said, are working -- at least, so far.

The large lake in Sindh province had threatened to displace a total of 100,000 people.

The Middle Eastern nation has been inundated with floodwaters this summer during an especially dangerous monsoon season, which began in mid-July. So far, officials say about 1,400 people have died as a result of the severe weather and floods.

The strategic breaching to divert the lake's water to less populated areas was a last-ditch effort.

"We see the water is now starting to come down," provincial minister Jam Khan Shoro told BBC News. "If we didn't make the breaches, several towns with big populations would have been destroyed and many more people in danger."

Villagers drain rain water from their homes in Karachi, Pakistan, on July 11. The country has been devastated by severe flooding during the current monsoon season, which began in mid-July. File Photo by Shahzaib Akber/EPA-EFE

The move still led to flooding in smaller villages, but officials say it averted a larger disaster.

Shoro added that the Pakistani government warned residents to leave the area and the military has been called in to help with relief efforts.

"We are trying our best to provide relief to the people but the scale of the disaster is so high and the number of people affected is also so high," Shoro said according to CNN.

"It's nearly impossible for our government to provide everyone with shelter, food, and medicine. It's difficult."

Pakistan's National Disaster Management Agency said the flooding this summer has caused more than $10 million in damage -- making worse an economic crisis that the country was already dealing with before the rains came.

Officials say that hundreds of roads and bridges have been damaged or destroyed and rescuers are still trying to save stranded villagers from inundated homes.