Weather woes: Indus flood likely to diminish, says forecast

Flood peak expected to enter Sindh in four days

DERA GHAZI KHAN/ BAHAWALPUR/ MULTAN:

There was a medium-level flood in River Indus at Chashma and Taunsa on Thursday.

According to the Flood Forecasting Division, water level at Chasma was 470,000 cusecs and 460,000 cusecs at Taunsa. A spokesman for the division said the flood was expected to enter Sindh in the next four days. He said water level at Sukkur had risen from 396,000 cusecs to 450,000 cusecs over two days. He said if it did not rain on Friday (today), water levels would decline in the Punjab.

The spokesman said flood in River Indus near Dera Ghazi, Jampur and Rajanpur had inundated low-lying areas of Rojhan and Kot mithan.

The district administration of Rahim Yar Khan said 43 rural areas had been affected by the flood in River Indus. The DCO said residents had been evacuated a few days ago and no casualty was reported.

He said there were 56,000 people living near the river. He said most had moved to safe areas.

The DCO said the district government had evacuated 2,500 persons since Monday and had set up relief camps for them.

Khanpur Assistant Commissioner Chaudhry Abdul Ghaffar said nine villages were affected in the tehsil by the flood. He said flood water had entered Thatta Dargrocha, Gadpur, Chak Faiz Ahmad, Chak Ahmadyar, Mehraan, Pahooran, Basti Mughal and Bait Faizabad. He said sugar cane, cotton and gram crops had been damaged.

The commissioner said 1,580 people and 3,674 cattle in these areas had been shifted to safer sites.

Some 49,777 acres farm land was affected by the flood and five villages of Liaquatpur, 17 of Khanpur and three rural areas in Sadiqabad were inundated.

The Livestock Department has 33,109 cattle at 20 relief camps in Rahim Yar Khan. A spokesman for Rescue 1122 said 13,756 had been moved to safe areas across the district.  He said police had provided 50 boats for the rescue efforts.

The Multan DCO said 23 relief camps had been set up across the district, though there was no danger from floods.

He said seven tent villages would also be set up near relief camps. The DCO said the Revenue Department had been directed to assess damage to crops destroyed by the flood. He said 66 out of 132 villages had been affected by the flood in River Chenab. He said 11 out of 14 embankments were in a good condition and repair of three embankments was underway.  He said that the discharge of water at Marala headworks was recorded 91,000 cusecs, 92,000 cusecs at Khanki headworks, 74,000 cusecs at Qadirabad headworks, 89,000 cusecs at Trimmu headworks and 96,000 cusecs at Punjnand.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 24^th, 2015.