Lake Manchar has spilled into hundreds of villages in Pakistan

Today’s Image of the Day from NASA Earth Observatory features Lake Manchar, which overflowed as devastating floods hit the Indus River Valley in early September 2022.

“Lake Manchar has had several breaches, both natural and artificial, with the latter made by officials attempting to keep the lake from overflowing catastrophically into densely populated areas. The breaches have put several hundred villages and more than 100,000 residents in the path of floodwaters,” says NASA.

Extreme monsoon rains submerged about one-third of Pakistan this summer, displacing hundreds of thousands of people. According to the country’s National Disaster Management Authority, more than 1,300 people have died and thousands more have been injured. 

Lake Manchar is located west of the Indus River in Sindh province, an area that has been hit particularly hard by flooding. This year, Sindh has already received more than five times its average rainfall.

“With many water systems damaged, government authorities and international relief agencies are concerned about safe access to drinking water, food insecurity, sanitation, and public health,” says NASA.

“On August 30, the Pakistani government declared a national emergency and, with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, called for international aid for humanitarian relief efforts.”

The natural-color image was captured on September 5, 2022 by the Operational Land Imager (OLI) aboard Landsat 8.

Image Credit: NASA Earth Observatory 

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer