Flood forecasting system dysfunctional, says official

The minister was also informed that Pakistan Army was ready to deal with any untoward situation during monsoon season


Sehrish Wasif July 13, 2016
The minister was also informed that Pakistan Army was ready to deal with any untoward situation during monsoon season. PHOTO: INP

ISLAMABAD: The flood forecasting telemetry network installed on major rivers for gathering real time data about flood situation is currently non-functional.

It was revealed in a meeting of Federal Flood Commission (FFC) held on Wednesday to review the arrangements made by the provinces and the federal lines agencies for the 2016 monsoon season.

PM orders inquiry into Met Dept’s ‘failure to predict storm’ in twin cities

While sharing the details of the meeting with The Express Tribune, an official at the FFC, requesting anonymity, said the officials from the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) informed FFC that due to the dysfunctional flood forecasting telemetry network, the data of these stations was not available to the Met Office which limits its flood forecasting ability.

According to the official, the systems installed at various places on Indus, Kabul and Jehlum were non-functional. The official further said Wapda operated the telemetry systems and for the last three years it was requesting the water and power ministry to release Rs18 million for making these functional.

Earlier Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif while ignoring all the challenges shared by the Met Office in predicting weather, expressed displeasure over inaccurate weather forecasts. “Met Office usually misleads people through inaccurate forecast. When it says it will rain the day goes dry and vice-versa,” he said.

Met office forecasts countrywide rains

He instructed PMD to improve their weather forecast to give ample time to deal with any emergency situation.

The minister was also informed that Pakistan Army was ready to deal with any untoward situation during monsoon season.

In view of forecast of rains and expected urban flooding, provinces were asked to be vigilant and ready. Secondly, encroachments restricting free flow of rivers which may result in floods were discussed and relevant authorities were asked to remove these bottlenecks.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14th, 2016.

COMMENTS (6)

Bulesha | 7 years ago | Reply Please contact India to get weather and early warning information. It will save people's life. Don't ask what you are not going to get.
Haji Atiya | 7 years ago | Reply One could count how many functional things there are in this country on the fingers of one hand !
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