Floods in Punjab displace nearly 500,000 people and kill dozens amid the largest rescue in the eastern province's history. Nearly half a million people have been displaced by flooding in eastern Pakistan after days of heavy rain swelled rivers, relief officials said, as they carried out a massive rescue operation. “This is the biggest flood in the history of the Punjab. The flood has affected 2 million people. It’s the first time that the three rivers — Sutlej, Chenab and Ravi — have carried such high levels of water,” the senior minister for the province, Maryam Aurangzeb, said at news conference Sunday. “The water is coming in large quantities — we cannot fight it, we cannot stop it,” Deputy Commissioner Wasim Hamad Sindhu said, appealing on people to seek shelters. The provincial disaster management authority said more than two million people have been affected, with more than 2,000 villages inundated. Approximately 760,000 people and 516,000 animals have been evacuated, and at least 33 people have died in less than a week.