Gurdaspur/Amritsar: On 27 August, floodwaters from the Ravi and Beas rivers surged deep into Punjab’s border districts, worsening the flood situation despite no rainfall during the day. Hundreds of villages were placed under threat as river levels continued to rise.

At Madhopur Headworks on the Ravi River, the force of water broke and washed away three flood gates, creating a major emergency. A charge-man working with the technical team was swept away in the river and remains missing, while two other employees were rescued by their colleagues. Around 60 workers were stranded on-site but were later airlifted to safety by the Indian Air Force. At the time, the Ravi was carrying 2.12 lakh cusecs of water, which peaked at 4.60 lakh cusecs on the evening of 26 August.

The Punjab government had deployed a 90-member expert team to clear the gates, which had jammed due to eight feet of silt deposits accumulated at the 150-year-old structure. Of the 54 gates at Madhopur Headworks, only a few remain operational. With the gates largely disabled, Ravi’s waters are now flowing unregulated into Pakistan. The river has spread nearly 8 km wide around Madhopur.

Meanwhile, inflows at Ranjit Sagar Dam touched one lakh cusecs. From the dam, 2.15 lakh cusecs were released into the Beas River on 27 August, followed by an additional 52,493 cusecs in the evening. Pong Dam released 94,845 cusecs and Bhakra Dam discharged 43,800 cusecs. As a result, Harike Barrage recorded 2.60 lakh cusecs while Hussainiwala observed 2.58 lakh cusecs. At Dhilwan, the Beas was flowing with around 2 lakh cusecs.

Floodwaters also damaged infrastructure: the bridge at village Jhamke on the Sirhind Feeder collapsed, cutting off dozens of villages.

The most affected districts included Gurdaspur, Pathankot, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Kapurthala, Ferozepur, and Fazilka. The Meteorological Department warned of heavy rainfall on 30–31 August, which could worsen the crisis.

Details of Crop Loss

By 27 August, floods had already devastated 2.30 lakh acres of crops across Punjab. District-wise major losses included:

Mansa – 52,660 acres

Fazilka – 38,297 acres

Kapurthala – 35,484 acres

Tarn Taran – 23,440 acres

Ferozepur – 19,584 acres

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