LAHORE: A seven-day spell of widespread rain with the potential of generating urban and flash flooding at several places in the country will start from Wednesday.

Heavy downpours may generate flooding in major cities and flash floods in vulnerable areas of Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata, Dera Ghazi Khan, Rawalpindi divisions and Kashmir, according to a weather advisory released by the Pakistan Meteoro­logical Department on Tuesday.

Rain-thundershower will be accompanied by strong gusty winds and isolated hailstorm in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab. Sindh will experience duststorms of 92 to 108km per hour intensity.

The Met department has advised fishermen of Balochistan with small boats to remain careful during the next two days (Wednesday and Thursday).

It also warned the authorities concerned to remain alert about the unusual weather conditions in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab over the next seven days.

It said that the spell would start from Balochistan and adjoining lower Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and upper Sindh on Wednesday with scattered rain, and would gain strength by Thursday, gradually covering the rest of the country in the next five days.

Widespread rain-thundershower will start in Balochistan on Thursday. Isolated heavy rainfalls are expected in Quetta, Zhob, Kalat, Sibbi and Naseerabad divisions. Scattered rain is likely in Lower Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan divisions), south Punjab

(Bahawalpur, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions), Fata and upper Sindh (Sukkur and Larkana divisions).

Isolated rain-thundershower is also likely in upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Sargodha and Gujranwala divisions), upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Peshawar, Kohat, Mardan, Hazara and Malakand divisions) and lower Sindh (Karachi and Hyderabad divisions) the same day.

On Friday widespread rain-thundershower is expected in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Lahore, Sahiwal and Gujranwala divisions), Islamabad and Kashmir. Isolated heavy rainfalls are expected in Quetta, Zhob, Kalat, Sibbi, Naseerabad, Hazara divisions and Kashmir.

Scattered rain-thundershower is also likely in Sindh, south Punjab (Bahawalpur, Multan and Dera Ghazi Khan divisions) and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The weather system will move out on Saturday. For two days, Saturday and Sunday, there will be widespread rain-thundershowers over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Lahore, Sahiwal and Gujranwala divisions), Islamabad and Kashmir.

Scattered heavy rainfalls are expected in Peshawar, Hazara, Mardan, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala divisions, Islamabad and Kashmir.

The weather system is expected to weaken on Monday and Tuesday, producing mere scattered rain-thundershower in upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Fata, upper Punjab (Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Faisalabad, Lahore and Gujranwala divisions), Islamabad, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2016