Punjab caretaker Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi on Friday said over 14,000 people had been evacuated by Rescue 1122 from the province’s flood-affected areas so far.

Pakistan’s central region has been facing a flood situation for days as the northern states of India, where the catchment areas of the Sutlej and Ravi rivers are located, have witnessed torrential downpours in the past week. Consequently, India has been releasing more water towards the downstream areas in Pakistan.

A day ago, a rescue operation was conducted in the province’s Kasur district as water from the Sutlej River flooded 15 villages, deprived four others of electricity and washed away standing crops.

Sharing the evacuation data in a Twitter post today, Naqvi said he had visited villages beyond the Talwar Post relief camp near the Ganda Singh border with India in Kasur to oversee the rescue operations in the villages surrounded by flood water.

Meanwhile, the Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) said in a 6pm update that the floodwater at the point of Ganda Singhwala in the Sutlej River was normal with both, the inflow and outflow, of water at 55,900 cusecs.

The update said there was low-level flooding at the point of Sulemanki headworks at the Sutlej River, where the inflow and outflow of water were recorded at 67,012 cusecs.

Earlier, a statement by the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) — issued by its Director General Imran Qureshi — said the flow of water at the Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum was normal and asserted that the PDMA’s control room was closely monitoring the water flow in the rivers.

Rain forecast

Separately, a report issued earlier today by the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) forecasted the rain situation during the next 24 hours, saying, “Scattered wind thunderstorm/ rain of light to moderate intensity with isolated heavy falls is expected over the upper catchments of all the major rivers.”

It predicted the same over Islamabad, Peshawar, Kohat, Bannu, Dera Ismail Khan, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan, Sahiwal, Dera Ghazi Khan and Bahawalpur divisions, adding that “isolated wind thunderstorm/rain is also expected over northeast Balochistan”.

Among the rainfall recorded at the river catchments during the last 24 hours, the highest amount — 29 millimetres — was recorded at the Bahawalpur airport point at River Sutlej and Faisalabad’s city point at River Ravi.

Meanwhile, a weekly weather forecast issued today by the PMD states that monsoon currents from the Arabian Sea are continuously penetrating the upper and central parts of the country and are likely to continue in the coming days.

It also warns that a westerly wave is also likely to enter the upper parts of the country on Friday evening or night (today).

Detailing the daily forecasts, it says rain-wind/thundershower is expected in Kashmir, Pothohar region, Islamabad, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa today and tomorrow (Saturday) while the same is predicted in “Kashmir, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, eastern Balochistan and Sindh” on July 16 (Sunday).

The PMD forecast alerts citizens that “heavy falls are also likely at isolated places in Pothohar region, Kashmir and upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” for the next two days while “isolated heavy falls are also likely in Kashmir, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, north/eastern Balochistan and northeastern Punjab” on Sunday.

The Met Office further warned that heavy rainfall “may generate urban flooding in low-lying areas” in the above regions on Sunday.

The situation is predicted to take a slight turn on Monday (July 17) with “rain-wind/thunderstorm” expected in northeast Punjab, the Pothohar region, Kashmir and upper KP on that day and the next (July 18).

“Mainly hot and humid weather is expected in most parts of the country,” the PMD states for July 17-18.

July 19-20 will once again see Kashmir, KP and upper/central Punjab receive rain-wind/thundershower as per the PMD forecast, with eastern Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan also expected to receive the same on July 20.

PDMA advisory

In light of the rain predictions, the PDMA advised farmers to manage their activities considering the weather forecast, tourists to remain cautious to avoid any untoward situation and the general public to stay at safe places during rain and storms.

In directions to government and administrative authorities, the PDMA said there should be:

• Immediate mobilisation and advance placement of flood fighting and rescue and relief teams with the required equipment on suitable sites.
• Evacuation of livestock and provision of fodder with vaccination arrangements in place.
• Moving residents from the most vulnerable areas to temporary relief camps and safe spaces.
• Mobilisation of medical teams for the provision of first aid to avoid epidemic diseases.
• Necessary arrangements with the Water and Power Development Authority on a priority basis to avoid electric shocks.
• District emergency operation centres should be strengthened for communication with field teams, divisional and provincial authorities as well as consolidating data on damages, rescue and relief operations for the effective execution of plans.
• Continuous monitoring of the flood impact and rescue and relief operations and any gaps and achievements should be documented to improve the response strategy.

Can’t empty cities, risk reduction needed: Sherry Rehman

Earlier, Climate Change Minister Sherry Rehman stressed the need for “adaptation and risk reduction” as the probability of intense weather events increases amid climate change.

In a tweet today, she shared a clip from her interview last night with Samaa TV’s Talat Hussain and asserted that “climate stress is a very serious challenge” due to which provinces need to heighten their capacity and preparedness.

In her interview, while noting that the country was adequately prepared for Cyclone Biparjoy, Rehman said evacuations from urban areas like Lahore were a considerable challenge.

“We cannot make people leave the cities. For example, the Punjab government could not evict people from Lahore [just by ordering them to] ‘empty the city’.”

Rehman went on to say that the government could instead inform people of the predictions and advise them to stay away from hazardous situations.