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.