Kotri Barrage in peak flood

Dozens of villages were submerged around Thatta with people scrambling to pile sandbags at strategic locations.


Salman Siddiqui August 24, 2010

KOTRI: An exceptionally high flood passed through Kotri Barrage on Tuesday, crossing the 900,000 cusecs mark for the first time in half a century.

At the same time, dozens of villages were submerged around Thatta with people scrambling to pile sandbags at strategic locations.

Officials said, however, that water levels at Sukkur and Guddu barrages were receding while the same situation was reported from upper Sindh.

The rise in flood waters in lower Sindh coincided with a visit by Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani who attended a briefing at the Kotri Barrage on Tuesday amidst tight security.

The surge in waters has threatened vast tracts of land on both sides of the barrage where people have started to evacuate their homes.

The only other time the barrage faced a similar situation was in the year 1956, when the water flow was recorded at 982,000 cusecs, exceeding its design capacity of 875,000 cusecs by more than 100,000 cusecs.

According to the Kotri Barrage control room, the water flow at 8pm on Tuesday was 938,438 cusecs upstream and 916,033 downstream. The flow at Sukkur Barrage was 779,460 cusecs upstream and 734,800 downstream and at Guddu the flow was 699,295 upstream and 688,370 downstream.

A senior official posted at Kotri said the barrage was facing additional pressure because of the full moon that was Indian move might trigger fresh floods in the eastern, hampering the speed with which the floodwater drains out to the Arabian Sea.

“Even though we are discharging water at more than 900,000 cubic feet per second downstream, the speed with which it should reach the sea is very slow,” he said, adding that all the embankments located downstream of Kotri up to Thatta district were under extreme stress.

Chief Engineer Kotri Barrage Manzoor Sheikh said the water flow was continuing to rise and he expected it to increase by more than 20,000 cusecs in the next 24 hours.

Gen Kayani arrived at the barrage accompanied by members of the Saudi armed forces, who are in the country to take part in relief efforts. Both sides of the roads leading to the barrage were blocked by commandos for hours which resulted in gridlock between Hyderabad and Jamshoro junction.

The army chief chaired a meeting at the control room and was given a detailed briefing by irrigation officials. Corps Commander Shahid Iqbal and General Officer Commanding Shaukat Iqbal were also in attendance. No Wapda official, who control the telemetry system at Kotri, were invited to attend the meeting.

Sheikh said he couldn’t disclose the exact agenda of the meeting, but said it was a routine visit of the army top brass, who had also visited Guddu and Sukkur barrages recently.

“We haven’t asked for any help from the army since the situation is under control,” he said, adding that talk of the barrage being given in army control was mere speculation.

Kayani was reportedly also briefed on Operation Labaik, the Pakistan army’s relief and rescue plan for Jamshoro, Hyderabad and Thatta districts.

Jamshoro

Meanwhile, DCO Jamshoro Samiuddin Siddiqi said that flood waters had entered Manjhand because of the RBOD canal and the fact that there was no protective barrier in the 13 km stretch. He said people from the kachcha areas have been evacuated to 50 camps in his district.

Bahrain’s Commander of National Guard Lt. General Mohammad bin Esa bin Sulaiman distributed relief goods in Jamshoro and announced Rs100,000 for each of the four victims’ families who were recently swept away by floods.

The embankments in district Tando Mohammad Khan were being strengthened in view of the developing situation. The water flow at Bhanot and other bunds in district Mattiari was decreasing. The situation was similar at Mud Mangli and Mikaro bunds in district Benazirabad where water had receded by more than 20,000 cusecs.

Hyderabad

A flood relief camp established at the Mono-Technical College near Hyderabad was pulled out after floodwaters entered its premises. Local volunteers started relief work on a self help basis in Latifabad and other parts of the city.

The dykes on the river were being strengthened and the embankments had been broken at Khanpur and Al-Manzar to save Hyderabad. Floodwaters also inundated the Khanpur area. Another breach was made near the Khair Mohammed Rajar Goth near the Kotri upstream, which has submerged the katcha area.

Flood survivors were being kept in government school buildings and Labour Department flats due to the congestion at the central relief camp in Hyderabad.

Flood waters reportedly entered the Civil Aviation Authority’s colony near the airport in Hyderabad early on Tuesday where a swimming pool and squash courts area were inundated. However, the city was safe and no embankment had been breached.

Thatta

The breach in the Saifullah Magsi Canal near Shahdadkot has inundated Qabu Saeed Khan and Chaukhi.

The erosion at the Soorjani Bund has exposed urban areas to increased risk of inundation, as the Bund’s 450-km stretch has begun to disintegrate under surging pressure from floodwater. Sensing the danger, locals are taking the initiative of trying to plug it with sand bags.

The river is likely to be in Exceptionally High Flood to Very High Flood Stage during the next 7-8 days. Flooding of low lying areas of Districts Hyderabad, Thatta, Badin and adjoining areas along both sides of Indus River, especially Sajawal, Mirpur Bataro, Mirpur Sakro, Jhang Shahi, Allah Rakhio, Shadadkot, Jamshoro, Matiari, Makaro, Ketibander and Shahbander is expected, say experts.

The flood flows in River Indus are gradually receding in the Guddu-Sukkur Reach. However, it is likely to be in Very High Flood Stage during the next 24 hours.

While the river is in very high flood level with falling trend in Guddu - Sukkur reach and is in medium flood with falling trend in Chashma-Taunsa reach and in Tarbela-Kalabagh it is in low flood.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 25th, 2010.

COMMENTS (4)

Zainab Ali | 13 years ago | Reply These floods are not showing any signs of abatement and the recent spell of rains is further targeting more floods. The estimation of losses at this stage would only give a percentage of the total. Once the floods abate the estimation would give the real picture.
nasim ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply You accept it or not but it is kaher e Khudawandi,we must beg mercy from Allah for all our missdeeds,soon we will be on our feet and this water will turn out to be a blessing.
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