New Delhi: Severe flooding in Jammu and Punjab has caused extensive damage along the India-Pakistan international border, leaving stretches of fencing submerged or destroyed and forcing the Border Security Force (BSF) to temporarily vacate dozens of posts. Officials said on Thursday that over 110 kilometres of border fencing had been affected, with at least 90 BSF posts inundated in forward areas.
The flooding, triggered by torrential rains and swollen rivers, has devastated rural settlements and farmland on both sides of the frontier. In Punjab, around 80 kilometres of fencing across Gurdaspur, Amritsar and Ferozepur sectors has been damaged, while in Jammu nearly 30 kilometres of border barriers have collapsed or tilted.
Officials confirmed the scale of the impact. “In Gurdaspur, nearly 30 to 40 of our border outposts were submerged. We evacuated all men and equipment safely with zero casualties. Around 30 km of fencing has been washed away or damaged,” they said.
Officials added that forward defence points, the high-ground observation posts critical for surveillance, have also been hit. As a result, the BSF has launched what sources described as a “mega exercise” to restore the fencing and rehabilitate border outposts.
Until repairs are completed, security is being maintained through drone reconnaissance, powerful searchlights, boat patrols and electronic sensors. “The water is receding and the BSF will be back to its position in no time,” an official said. However, one jawan drowned in Jammu’s floodwaters earlier this week. The devastation has been particularly severe in Punjab, which is witnessing its worst flooding since 1988. Officials said the Ravi River has breached embankments at multiple points, flooding both sides of the zero line and even forcing Pakistan Rangers to vacate their forward posts. “The Ravi River has flooded both sides of the zero line. Even Pakistan Rangers have vacated forward posts,” one officer noted.
The Gurdaspur drainage department reported 28 breaches along the Ravi’s bundhs in the district alone. Dilpreet Singh, an executive engineer with the department, said, “Amritsar has 10–12 breaches, while in Pathankot one major breach — a two-km-long bundh — has been washed away entirely. Just plugging these breaches will take four to six weeks. Full restoration will take even longer.”
Some gaps, including those near Kartarpur Sahib in Dera Baba Nanak, measure up to 1,000 feet. Repair works have begun at Makora Pattan and Dera Baba Nanak, but officials warned that stabilisation of embankments could take months. The floods have left border landmarks unrecognisable. Visuals showed a family from Shahzada village taking shelter inside the BSF’s Kamalpur post in Amritsar, which personnel had vacated. The iconic BSF post near the Kartarpur Sahib Corridor is also underwater, and jawans have temporarily taken refuge at the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Dera Baba Nanak.
Despite the chaos, BSF patrols have continued using watercraft. Officials disclosed that smugglers attempted to exploit the gaps in the border fence. “One infiltrator was caught while attempting to misuse the situation,” a spokesperson said. Alongside security operations, BSF units have also undertaken large-scale rescue work. “In Ferozepur, we evacuated 1,500 people, while in Abohar over a thousand villagers and their livestock were shifted. Medical and veterinary camps are running daily to prevent disease outbreaks,” a BSF officer said.
Drainage officials are cautiously hopeful as water levels begin to stabilise. “Levels in the dams will ease, water will pull back into the river, and only low-lying areas will stay submerged. Within three days, we expect near-normal conditions,” Singh said.