Fresh rains trigger flood risk

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has warned of a significant increase in water flows in major rivers and possible flooding as heavy monsoon rains continue across Punjab and other regions.

The NDMA said the Nullah Palkhu at Wazirabad was experiencing medium-level flooding. Low-level flooding was reported at the Kalabagh, Chashma, Guddu and Sukkur barrages along the Indus River, as well as at Head Nari.

In Sheikhupura district's Muridke tehsil, the overflowing Nullah Dek triggered a flood. National Assembly Standing Committee on Water Resources Chairman Rana Ahmad Atiq Anwar, NDMA Chairman Lieutenant General (retd) Inam Haider Malik, Punjab Minister Khawaja Salman Rafique, the PDMA chairman and Lahore commissioner visited affected areas to review relief operations.

The NDMA said heavy rains could cause urban flooding in low-lying areas of Sheikhupura, Kasur, Faisalabad, Multan, Sahiwal, Okara, Bahawalnagar, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Sialkot, Lahore, Rawalpindi and the Potohar region.

Heavy rains could also trigger flash floods in local streams as well as hill torrents in Dera Ghazi Khan.

According to the weather forecast, monsoon currents are continuously penetrating the upper and central parts of the country, while a westerly wave is affecting upper regions and is expected to persist for the next 24 hours.

Rain and thundershowers are expected in Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Islamabad, Punjab and northeastern Balochistan, with isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall likely in Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan, Upper K-P, Islamabad and Punjab.