Hundreds of villages have been badly affected, several marooned, by exceptionally high flash floods in the rivers Chenab and Jhelum and devastating torrential rains in the districts of Sialkot, Narowal, Gujrat, Mandi Bahauddin, Gujranwala, Hafizabad, Sheikhupura of central Punjab.
Punjab government has declared emergency in the affected areas and launched full scale rescue and relief operations. Pakistan army has already been called in to assist the district administration in Sialkot and Narowal areas for evacuation of marooned populace.
Flood Warning Centre said here on Friday that the river Jhelum at and Mangla and Rasul is crossing 500,000 Cusecs that is Exceptionally High Flood Level. Under this scenario Districts Jhelum, Gujrat, Mandibahauddin & Sargodha are likely to be inundated.
FFC warned that Very High to Exceptionally High Flood Level is likely to continue in Rivers Chenab & Jhelum along with their associated Nullahs during next 24 to 48 hours and river Ravi may attain Medium to High Flood Level at Jassar, near Lahore. It further said that river Chenab is also at exceptionally high flood level as nearly 500,000 cusecs is flowing in Marala and Khaneki head-work. The flood water is gushing towards Qadirabad barrage in district Hafizabad.
River Tavi has inundated hundreds of the acres of farmland and several villages as water burst out of the river in Saidpur-Bajwat. Army was sent to rescue the marooned people. The district administrations have issued flood warning and local people are being evacuated from the sensitive areas along the river beds. Residents of villages adjoining the river Chenab had already been evacuated and shifted to safer places. As many as 33 relief centres had been established in the Sialkot District in addition to medical centres with sufficient medicines.
Met Office Severe Weather Warning: (Flash Flood - Tropical Cyclone - Heavy Rainfall) Isolated heavy at times very heavy falls are expected in Northeast Punjab (Lahore, Gujranwala, and Rawalpindi divisions), Islamabad and Kashmir. Heavy falls may generate flash/urban flooding in the vulnerable areas of Northeast Punjab and may trigger flash flooding / landslides in the vulnerable areas of Kashmir and adjoining hilly areas during the period.
METEOROLOGICAL FEATURES: The Monsoon Low Pressure Area (MLPA) is now located over Indian Punjab and is likely to move slightly northward with decreasing tendency. This weather system still has a potential to produce moderate to heavy intensity rainfall over north-east Punjab (Gujranwala, Lahore and Rawalpindi divisions), Kashmir and adjoining areas during next 24 hours. This may aggravate the flooding in the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Sutlej Rivers and their tributaries. Seasonal low lies over north-west Balochistan and adjoining areas. A westerly wave is also prevailing over Kashmir and adjoining areas. Strong monsoon currents are continuously penetrating in north eastern parts of Punjab and Kashmir and likely to continue during next 24 hours
WEATHER FORECAST FOR TODAY: More widespread rain-thundershowers with isolated moderate to heavy intensity falls are expected in Kashmir, Islamabad, north-east Punjab (Lahore, Gujranwala, and Rawalpindi divisions), and while at scattered places in Hazara, Malakand, Peshawar divisions, Gilgit-Baltistan and at isolated places in Mardan, Kohat, Sargodha, Faisalabad and Sahiwal divisions.
WEATHER PAST 24 HRS: Widespread rain-thundershowers with heavy falls occurred in Kashmir, Islamabad, north-east Punjab (Lahore, Gujranwala, Rawalpindi divisions), Hazara division, while scattered rain-thundershower occurred in Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Sahiwal, Sargodha, Malakand, Peshawar divisions and Gilgit-Baltistan
RAINFALL RECORDED PAST 24 HRS: Lahore (a.p 299, city 192), Rawalakot 248, Rawalpindi 255, Islamabad z.p 212, Murree 161, Okara 155, Kakul 112, Kotli 109, Garhidupatta 83, Kasur 82, M.B Din 77, Chakwal 69, Balakot 68, Muzaffarabad, Astore 64, Skardu 63, Sialkot (cantt 57, Airport 30), Gujranwala 56, Sargodha 48, Bunji 41, Jehlum 31, Malamjabba 30, Chilas 29, Saidu sharif 23, Hunza 22, Gilgit 19, Gujrat 16, Bahawalnagar 15, Pattan 07, Cherat 03, Joharabad and Faisalabad 02mm.
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