PMD warns India’s water release may cause flooding

Water reservoirs in India have reached maximum level

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Meteorological Department on Monday issued an alert informing about the chances of riverine flood in Pakistan because India is likely to release rainwater from its main rivers after September 1.

Also, Pakistan has received 25% above average rain since the onset of the monsoon season, according to the PMD.



PMD Director-General Dr Ghulam Rasul told The Express Tribune normal to heavy showers are expected in the catchment areas near India from August 31 to September 1.

“Currently, all water reservoirs in India have reached the maximum conservation level and it is expected that the showers that are expected on Wednesday and Thursday would prompt India to release extra water in the rivers which would likely generate riverine flood in Pakistan,” he said.

He added that though India, before releasing water, issues alerts to Pakistan, still to be on a safe side it is the responsibility of the Pakistan Meteorological Department to inform the authorities concerned ahead of time.

“The PMD issues alerts as a precautionary measure; however, it does not mean that things would happen as predicted,” he said.

“However, till date all rivers are flowing normally, and at a few places there are low-level floods. The situation is fully under control and there are no threats of riverine floods till now,” he said.

“This year Pakistan has experienced only urban flooding so far -- not riverine flooding till date,” he said.

According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), monsoon rains have claimed 138 lives across the country this year. Of them, 52 were children, 63 men and 23 were women.

The highest number of deaths was reported from Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa where 52 people were killed followed by Fata with 27 deaths. Next comes Punjab with 22 deaths, Sindh (21), Balochistan (10), AJK (5) and Islamabad (1).

However, 63 people were reportedly injured across the country since the onset of the monsoon season this year and six are still missing in Chitral, according to the NDMA.

Ghulam said that during the monsoon season lives of people and property near catchment areas are at major risk. “It is necessary to take extra precautionary measures in order to decrease human and property loss as much as possible,” he said.



He revealed that though the Met Office had predicted 10-20% above average rain during monsoon, after the recent spell of rains the average has reached 25%. “Pakistan has received a good amount of rain during the last week of August which helped the country to have above average rainfall as forecast earlier,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2016.