Chenab, Tavi in high flood as India releases water

SIALKOT/ISLAMABAD: The Chenab and Tavi Rivers remained in high flood at Head Marala and Chaprar in Sialkot area, while heavy rains lashed various parts of Punjab including Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore on Sunday. The situation has worsened with India releasing water in the Chenab River.

Nullah Dek was also reported in high flood near Chahoor in Pasrur tehsil. Flood warning has been issued. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has sought a detailed report about the flood situation across the country.

A meeting of senior officials can be convened this week to examine the overall situation. Highly-placed sources told The News here on Sunday that the prime minister had already alerted the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and other relevant agencies to be ready for provision of assistance if a problem arises in any part of the country.

Nawaz would decide to review the flood-hit areas once the report he has asked for reaches the Prime Minister’s House. The sources said that the premier is also keeping a vigil on the opposition PTI’s agitation but he is concentrating on the pace of development activities, especially related to the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), power generation and building of infrastructure.

Sialkot District Coordination Officer (DCO) Dr Asif Tufail told reporters that 311,840 cusecs of water was passing through the River Chenab at Head Marala. He said River Tavi was experiencing a high-flood tide with 27,444 cusecs of water. However, he added, the flood situation was under control in the Sialkot district.

Also, widespread rains lashed the region on Sunday. A government official in Sialkot, Dr Umer Sher Chatta, said the city received 37.2mm rain, which began early in the morning and continued the whole day. It inundated low-lying urban and rural areas causing serious problems for the people.

Meanwhile, the Federal Flood Commission (FFC) has said that a peak of high to very high flood level is expected in River Jhelum at Mangla (inflow) and high flood in River Chenab at Marala Khanki and Qadirabad during the next 24 hours.

According to the daily FFC report on Sunday, presently River Indus at Tarbela and Guddu and River Kabul at Warsak are flowing in low flood while other main rivers, including Rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej, are flowing normally.

The river flows and reservoir elevations indicate that Tarbela and Mangla reservoirs are at elevations of 1,526.90 feet and 1,236.50 feet, respectively, which are 23.10 feet and 5.50 feet below their respective maximum conservation levels of 1,550.00 feet and 1,242.00 feet.

According to the Flood Forecasting Division Lahore, Saturday’s trough of westerly wave still persists over the northern parts of the country whereas Saturday’s monsoon low pressure area also persists over the northeastern Madhya Pradesh (India).

Seasonal low continues to prevail over northern Balochistan. Moderate moist current from Bay of Bengal is penetrating into upper parts of country up to 5,000 feet.

As predicted by the Flood Forecasting Division Lahore, scattered thunderstorm rain with isolated heavy falls and one or two very heavy falls is expected over the upper catchments of Rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej during the next 24 hours.

Scattered thunderstorm rain may also occur over the upper catchments of River Indus including Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala, Lahore and Bahawalpur divisions, besides Sindh, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (Peshawar, Kohat and Dera Ismail Khan divisions) and northeastern Balochistan during the same period, which may generate flash flood flows in local nullahs.