More rains forecast

LAHORE: Though the ongoing spell of monsoon have played havoc in several cities of Punjab, Met Office is considering these rains below normal and predicted that more heavy to very heavy rains will hit the province in the coming days.

On Friday noon, the provincial capital also received moderate to heavy rain at scattered places, which caused traffic jams on various major city roads. Met officials said seasonal low lay over north Balochistan while monsoon currents were penetrating southern parts of the country and were likely to continue for the next two to three days. They added that a shallow westerly wave was affecting western parts of the country and was likely to persist during the next 48 hours.

Met Office Director General Ghulam Rasool, while talking with The News, predicted that more rains were expected in the central part of Punjab especially the catchment areas of River Chenab. He said the monsoon was changing its pattern in the country, therefore, more rains were falling in central and upper Punjab.

“The biggest challenge we are facing now is to intelligently handle both deficiency and surplus water,” he said, adding that the country had no storage capacity on River Chenab and excess/flood water could be diverted to dry areas through link canals. He suggested construction of small dams at every possible site to conserve the excess water. He said this would also help recharge the depleting ground water resource, which people pump out ruthlessly during dry days. Data collected from Met Office revealed that so far the highest rainfall was recorded in Gujranwala where 250.4 mm rain was recorded from July 1, 2017 till date. Met Office data revealed that 194 mm rain was recorded at Islamabad airport against the monthly normal rain of 307.8 mm whereas the historical record of rain in Islamabad was 591.9 mm which occurred on July 24, 2001. Data revealed that 189.7 mm rain was so far recorded in Gujrat and 157 mm rain was recorded in Islamabad city against the normal monthly rain of 386.6 mm. So far, Muree received 150.1 mm rain against the monthly normal of 339.5 mm while historical record of rain in Muree was 254.3 mm rain on July 20, 1993, Mianwali received 61mm rain against the monthly normal of 144.6 mm, Sargodha received 57 mm again 120.8 mm, Mandi Bahauddin received 107.9mm, Jhelum received 95.3 mm against 243.1 mm and Sialkot received 108.6 against 312.6mm and historical record of rain in Sialkot was 339.7 mm rain on August 6, 1976. Data of MET Office revealed that Faisalabad received 70 mm rain against the monthly normal 100.8 mm and its historical rain record was 264.2 mm rain on September 5, 1961, Lahore city received 52.8 mm rain against the monthly normal of 190.9 mm and its historical rain record was 332.5 mm rain on July 31, 1980 and second highest was 228.1 mm rain on September 24, 1954.

Data showed that Lahore airport received 87.6 mm rain against the monthly normal of 196.8 mm, Multan received 14.2 mm rain against 49.6 mm, Bahawalnagar received 29 mm rain against 70.8 mm, Kasur received 18 mm rain, Bahawalpur received 2.6 mm rain against 40.4 mm and Rahimyar Khan received 6.8 mm rain.

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