People sitting on a rescue boat ride through a flooded area after heavy monsoon rains induced a rise in the water level of the River Ravi in Muridke on July 27, 2026. (Photo by Arif ALI / AFP)
Muridke, Pakistan: Flooding from heavy monsoon rains inundated villages in eastern Pakistan, pushing residents to flee their homes by boat over fields turned into vast swathes of water on Monday.
AFP journalists witnessed small motor boats chartered by volunteers ferrying residents to safety, but many more were left stranded in Muridke district in Pakistan's most populous province of Punjab.
"It has been four days, and no rescue team has reached us," said 32-year old Iqra Salman.
"We have no electricity, no clean water, and now we have completely run out of food supplies," she said. "We are surrounded by floodwater on all sides."
Flood-related incidents, including by drowning and from house collapses, have killed 109 people in Pakistan since June 26, according to official disaster agency figures.
Around a third of the deaths are in Punjab.
Volunteer rescuers said they had launched an effort to rescue people and recover their belongings from around a dozen villages.
"Four rescue boats... are actively conducting rescue operations, evacuating people stranded by the flooding," said Haris Dar, a volunteer rescuer, standing by a huge lake-like body of brown water.
We have lost everything
But even when brought to safety, residents faced difficult conditions, sleeping in small tents in humid heat, nestled between the huge body of water and the road.
Muhammad Ramzan, 45, recalled water rushing in during the early hours of the morning shortly before his family's house collapsed.
"The water rose so rapidly that we had no opportunity to save or remove any of our belongings," he said.
"We have lost everything and have nothing," he added.
