Departing monsoon leaves 139 dead

95 deaths confirmed in Punjab, 44 in AJK; Met Office says spell of heavy rains is over, flooding still to be expected.

MUZAFFARABAD/ ISLAMABAD/ LAHORE:

Heavy floods triggered by monsoon rains swamped vast swathes of land in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK), killing an estimated 139 people and leaving another 266 injured. The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) said on Saturday that the spell of heavy rains is over, while flooding is still to be expected.

As many as 95 deaths were reported in 18 districts of Punjab until Saturday night, Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Director Nisar Ahmed said. Another 44 people died in rain-related incidents in AJK.

Dr Ghulam Rasul, the chief metrological officer at the PMD, lower rainfall is expected in parts of Punjab, AJK, Gilgit-Baltistan and adjoining areas of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa in the next 24 hours. Floods will continue during the coming week, with areas across the Indus River in Punjab and Sindh likely to be affected. “This is the last wave of heavy rains for this year’s monsoon,” he assured.



The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) stated that Punjab, AJK and G-B bore the brunt of last week’s downpour. In Punjab, the rains damaged 32 houses. Thirteen villages were inundated while standing crops on 4,795 acres of land were affected while roughly 45 cattle died.

An official in the Punjab irrigation department said that two drains, Dik and Aik, caused significant damage to agriculture worth millions in Gujranwala, Narowal and Sailkot districts. He added that the Leh drain in Rawalpindi caused damage to residential areas. A control room has been set up at the Punjab Civil Secretariat and Provincial Minister for Environment and Chairman Cabinet Committee on Flood Shuja Khanzada said funds have been released for relief activities.

In AJK, the floods swamped six villages and an estimated 820 acres of crops. Around 1,596 houses have been damaged. In the early hours of Saturday, six people – among them five women – were killed when a landslide triggered by heavy downpour hit the village of Krimyah, in Khurshidabad tehsil of Havayli district. Saturday’s fatalities took the overall death toll to 44.

Havayli has been the worst affected districts of AJK where 16 deaths have been reported thus far, followed by Sudhanati where 12 people have been killed over the past 48 hours. Other deaths were reported in Rawalakot (4), Kotli (4), Bagh (4), Bhimber (3) and one in Mirpur.



The main roads between Muzaffarabad and Rawalpindi remained impassable for vehicular traffic for the third consecutive as tonnes of mud, rocks and slush blocking the road at Kohala couldn’t be cleared. However, the Danna bypass and Abbottabad roads are open for light vehicles.

Moreover, Havayli remains cut off from the rest of the country as the only access road to the region is blocked at Abbaspur and Bagh. Similarly, a heavy landslide is blocking the road to Neelum Valley near Marble area while all access roads to Bagh and Sudhanati have been blocked by huge boulders, mud and slush.

NDMA spokesperson Ahmed Kamal said the authority was coordinating with district and local administrations in rescue and relief operations in Punjab, AJK and G-B. The NDMA is making arrangements in accordance with the Met department’s forecast; the department had said that a ‘suppressed monsoon’ was to be expected this year.

In the last week of August, the Met department stated that the monsoon was 29 per cent less than normal in July, 50 per cent less than normal in August and it was likely to be 50 to 60 per cent less than normal in September. However, the Met department warned of torrential rains on September 3, the spokesperson said.  He added that the NDMA’s plan for the monsoon rains was shared with provincial governments, as per the 18th Amendment. It is thus the domain of the province to implement the plan and the PDMA to coordinate with the local administration, Kamal said. “Our resources are available in the provincial offices and it is up to them how to use them,” he maintained.  Special NDMA teams have been dispatched to populations affected by flooding in the Jhelum and Chenab Rivers, where the Pakistan Army is also assisting in relief efforts, the spokesperson said.

Flood warning

As per the Flood Forecasting Department (FFD0 Lahore, the Chenab River at Trimmu is likely to attain very high to exceptionally high flood level ranging from 575,000 to 675,000 cusecs within the next two to three days.



 

Flood water in Chenab River passing through Gujarat. PHOTO: ONLINE

Districts Mandibahauddin, Hafizabad, Sargodha, Gujrat, Jhang and Toba Tek Singh are likely to be inundated. Additionally, the Chenab River at Marala will reach exceptionally high flood level and is likely to cross 900,000 cusecs by today (Sunday). The Chenab River at Khanki is likely to cross 900,000 cusecs by today. The Chenab River at Qadirabad is likely to cross 900,000 cusecs as well. The NDMA advised authorities in Gujrat, Faisalabad, Narrowal, Mandibahauddin, Gujranwala and Sialkot districts to take precautionary measures.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 7^th, 2014.