LAHORE: Remaining period of the flood season is yet haunting the meteorologists, saying that the heat accumulation may cause another monsoon system by the weekend to create a flood-like situation in the eastern rivers of the country.
They said the presence of a heavy monsoon system could not be ignored at the last leg of the flood season as it has occasionally been aggravated in the month of September in the past as well.
According to them, the dangerous part of the situation could be the already flood like situation in the provinces of Balochistan and Sindh. The present monsoon system, if aggravated by another 36 to 48 hours, may bring a similar flood like situation into the Rivers Sutlej, Ravi and Chenab. The localities in and around these three major rivers may witness a high level of floods, they feared.
However, they said, this system has to take birth yet in the Bay of Bengal. Once created, they pointed out, it would bring heavy downpour to India where dams are already filled up by 85 percent. Accordingly, there would be no option for it but to spill over the floodwater to three eastern rivers of Pakistan.
When asked about the possibility of occurrence of any such dangerous system, they apprehended that there were over 50 percent chances of such an occurrence. However, they made clear in the same breath that they are not issuing any warning to the concerned authorities right now. Instead, they are watching the weather trends carefully and would go for a warning alert in and around 10th of September, if there is any such development in the region.
It is worth noting that Pakistan is reeling from one of the worst floods in decades with more than a third of the country submerged. According to the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), record monsoon rains and melting glaciers in northern mountains brought floods that have killed at least 1,265 people since June 14, mostly children, with 57 casualties reported during the last 24 hours.
Two weeks back, 14 vital connectivity roads in Balochistan - on which the economy relies for its goods transport to and from other countries - were cut off. Some 81 grid stations were flooded and 881 feeders were damaged across the country.
Around 3,500 telecommunication towers in Sindh and Balochistan were disrupted during floods. Over 5,000 km of roads, 200 bridges, 1.4 million houses, and 700,000 livestock have been washed away.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022