Reaching saturation point? Sindh barrages witness yet another high flood

Only 30,000 cusecs of water released by India to reach the province

SUKKUR: A high flood passed through all three barrages of Sindh, Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri, on Wednesday. If no heavy rainfall takes place in the upper catchment areas or Koh-e-Suleiman mountain range this week, it is likely to recede to a medium flood in a couple of days.

After the passage of three peak floods carrying more than 700,000 cusecs of water, yet another high flood passed through Guddu, Sukkur and Kotri barrages on Wednesday. Sukkur barrage control room incharge Abdul Aziz Soomro told The Express Tribune that the upstream at Guddu barrage on Wednesday was 646,683 cusecs while the downstream was 621,164 cusecs. At Sukkur barrage, the upstream was 671,110 cusecs and the downstream was 619,010 cusecs, he said, adding that at Kotri, the upstream was recorded at 585,340 cusecs while the downstream was 554,405 cusecs.



According to Soomro, the week from August 12 to August 19 is very important, as a very high flood might be witnessed if heavy rainfall occurs in the upper catchment areas or Koh-e-Suleiman range during this time. "A high flood is already passing through our barrages and if heavy rainfall takes place in upper catchment areas or Koh-e-Suleiman, it will certainly add to the volume of Indus and we might experience a very high flood once again," he said. "But, if no rainfall takes place during this week, the water level at Sindh barrages will go down to a medium flood."

Water released by India

Talking about the release of the 93,000 cusecs of water from India, Soomro said that it will first enter River Sutlej and then, passing through Head Islam, will arrive at Panjnad barrage. "We will only receive 30,000 cusecs of water from Panjnad in this case," he added.

Outflow from Tarbela Dam

Meanwhile, the Tarbela Dam is already filled to its full capacity of 1,550 feet. In order to balance the water level, the inflow in the dam's reservoir is 312,000 cusecs while 314,400 cusecs of water is being discharged in its downstream.

This practice will continue until the end of August, after which temperature at Skardu is expected to go below 20o Celcius. Once the temperature at Skardu drops, ice melting will stop and the inflow in Tarbela Dam will resultantly go back to normal.

Last flood?

Meanwhile, the meteorological office and the flood forecasting division have not issued any flood warning for the days to come. This might mean that the present high flood might prove to be the last of the season.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 13^th, 2015.