Severe rains threaten three provinces, warnings issued

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Severe rains threaten three provinces, warnings issued
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By: Online on:30 Jul 2010

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Flood Commission and the Met office have warned the authorities that the next 24 hours are critical and if the ongoing spell of rains continues, innumerable villages in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the Punjab and Sindh would be inundated because of possible spillover of rivers and tributaries and many bridges would be at risk.

“We have issued necessary warnings to all and sundry,” Chairman Federal Flood Commission Zarar Aslam told on Thursday, adding that the country’s reservoirs, including Mangla and Tarbela Dams, were almost full, nearly all the rivers and tributaries had medium-to-high floods whereas the soil was saturated, thus leaving the situation vulnerable for floods if the shower did not see a break.

DG Met Office Dr Qamaruz Zaman, when contacted, was equally concerned and warned that if the outflows of Tarbela, Mangla and River Chenab synchronised, it would play havoc in the Punjab and Sindh after the KP had already received record rains and inundations.

Dr Qamaruz Zaman said that the warning regarding the Mangla Dam had already been issued because of the extremely high flood. He said that the inflow and outflow in the Mangla Dam, which is full and has no more storage capacity for additional water, has already reached 250,000 cusecs feet and was expected to touch 300,000-350,000 cusecs feet. He said that because of the Mangla discharge downstream, River Jehlum would spill over and cause flood in the low-lying areas.

Like Mangla, he said, the inflow and outflow in Tarbela had reached 300,000 cusecs feet whereas the Chenab too had 250,000 cusecs feet floodwater. For Sindh, which would too face floods in the low-lying areas as the flood water reaches there, the DG Met office feared a havoc like situation if the outflows of Mangla, Tarbela and Chenab synchronised.

Dr Qamaruz Zaman said that the KP received a record rainfall and the situation of flood in its rivers was still high because of which the province was experiencing an unprecedented inundation. After the next 24 hours, he said, if the rain spell weakened, then the river situation all over Pakistan would not worsen.

The Chairman Federal Flood Commission, Zarar Aslam, said that 300 villages had already been affected in the KP and the Punjab while more than 50 people were dead in the KP alone. The FFC chief said that Mangla and Tarbela were almost full and, therefore, were not in a position to store more water in these reservoirs.

He said that the next 24 hours were critical and if the present spell of rains did not weaken, things could go bad. He said that the KP rivers/tributaries like Swat, Kabul, Pamjkora and Badni Nullah were in high floods.
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