Heavy Falls Expected In Catments During Next 24 Hours: Federal Flood Commission

Federal Flood Commission (FFC) has reported all main Rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej are flowing normal amid heavy falls reported to occur in the catchments of major rivers during next 24 hours.

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Sep, 2018 ) :Federal Flood Commission (FFC) has reported all main Rivers Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej are flowing normal amid heavy falls reported to occur in the catchments of major rivers during next 24 hours.

According to the daily FFC report on Saturday, water situation at reservoirs is persisting to decline where the actual river flows and reservoir elevations indicates that Tarbela Dam is at 1519.46 feet, 30.54 feet below its maximum conservation level (MAL) and Mangla reservoir at 70.45 feet below its MAL of 1242 feet which is 1171.55 feet. The present combined live storage of three reservoirs is 7.227 million acre feet (MAF) (52.83 per cent of the total storage capacity of 13.681 MAF).

According to Flood Forecasting Division (FFD), Lahore, yesterday's trough of Westerly Wave over Northern Afghanistan today lies over Northeastern Afghanistan, whereas weak Seasonal Low continues to prevail over Northern Balochistan.

"Moist currents from Bay of Bengal are penetrating into Northeastern parts of Pakistan upto elevation of 10,000 feet", the report said.

For the next 24 hours, as predicted by the FFD, Lahore, wide spread thunderstorm or rain with scattered heavy falls and isolated very heavy falls, besides, one or two extremely heavy falls are expected over the upper catchments of Rivers Sutlej, Ravi and Chenab including Gujranwala Division (Punjab) during the next 24 hours.

"Scattered thunderstorm or rain with isolated heavy falls may also occur over the upper catchments of Rivers Indus and Jhelum including Punjab (Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Lahore and Sahiwal Divisions) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Peshawar, Kohat, D.I. Khan and Bannu Divisions) during the same period.

"Wet Spell is likely to prevail from 23rd to 25th September", the report claimed.

The report further added, "River Chenab is likely to attain Very High Flood stage at Marala and downstream area and Jhelum at Mangla including local nullahs (tributaries of Rivers Chenab and Ravi) may attain Very High Flood level during the next 24-48 hours".

However, the report mentions that the scale of flood in Rivers Ravi and Sutlej at RIM stations or entry points in Pakistan depends upon releases from Indian Reservoirs.

The concerned District Management Authorities, provincial and district disaster management authorirties i.e. PDMAs, DDMAs respectivelty and respective zones of Irrigation Department are advised to remain HIGHLY ALERT for any emergency situation in order to ensure safety of human life, public and private properties, besides, Irrigation and Flood Protection Infrastructures all along Rivers Sutlej, Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum from their RIM Stations or entry points in Pakistan and downstream areas.