SUKKUR, July 31 As flash flood carrying 800,000 cusecs of water is likely to pass through Sukkur Barrage on August 7, Rangers and army personnel have been deployed at the barrage and vulnerable points along River Indus to cope up with any emergency.

According to irrigation sources, on Saturday water flow of 252,000 cusecs was recorded at Guddu Barrage upstream and 230,000 cusecs at downstream. As much as 205,000 cusecs flowed at Sukkur Barrage upstream and 157,000 cusecs at downstream. At Kotri Barrage upstream, water flow was recorded at 95,000 cusecs and 65,000 cusecs were released downstream.

Sources said that flash flood carrying more than 800,000 cusecs of water was expected to reach Guddu Barrage on the midnight of August 3 which would reach Sukkur Barrage on 6 or 7.

According to executive engineer of the barrage Zareef Khero, a meeting of the officials of army, Rangers, revenue and other departments concerned was held at his office to review the flood situation. He said that they had issued notices to illegal occupants of the Katcha Bunder area to move to safe places in 48 hours to avoid any mishap.

He said that help of army and Rangers personnel had been sought to keep vigil on vulnerable points, including Faridabad flood protective embankment in Khairpur district, Bakhri loop embankment in Naushahro Feroze district, left bank of the river off Dadu-Moro bridge, new mud loop embankment in Nawabshah, SM embankment in Saeedabad, Matiari embankment in Bhanot and Katcha Bunder in Sukkur. Mr Khero said that heavy machinery had been made available at the vulnerable sites to cope up with any emergency.

Before the flood, he said, water supply to the off-taking canals of Sukkur Barrage would be suspended and the gates of the barrage would be opened to discharge water downstream.

He said that the protective embankments had become vulnerable due to illegal construction of houses and the digging out of mud.

He said that people living in the kutcha area had been warned to move to safe places. He said that residents of Katcha Bunder on the river bank had refused to shift and warned that strong current of water could erode and wash away their houses.

Similarly, the Guddu Barrage authorities have declared KK, Ghouspur, Qadirpur and other embankments vulnerable and are keeping vigil on them with the deployment of army and Rangers personnel.

Our Thatta correspondent adds An urgent meeting was convened here on Saturday to finalise a contingency plan to face the situation which could arise out of expected super flood in Thatta district.

The meeting, which was presided over by acting DCO of Thatta Ghulam Abbas Soomro, was informed that the flood, carrying more than 700,000 cusecs of water, would strike Kotri Barrage on August 12 or 13.

It identified Surjani, Goongri, MS and Sonda Hilaya embankments as vulnerable sites to be kept under vigil during the deluge.

EDO finance Ali Ahmed Baloch told the meeting that holidays had been cancelled by the Sindh government and the employees of revenue, police, health, education, livestock and fisheries, highways, telecommunication and other departments had been asked to remain present on their duties.

The meeting called for availability of necessary machinery at vulnerable points.

The meeting was told that when 720,000 cusecs of water passed through Kotri downstream on August 15, 1988, Surjani protective embankment had developed 800-foot breach and wreaked havoc in the area. This time, a breach in the embankment posed threat to Daro, Belo, Mirpur Bathoro and other towns and a breach in Goongri Kat embankment may flood Chuhar Jamali, Jati, Shah Bandar and Sujawal.

The meeting said that people living along the protective embankments should voluntarily evacuate the area for their own safety otherwise a contingency plan was being prepared to evacuate them.

Meanwhile, the people of the coastal area, which has not seen enough water in Indus for a couple of years, have expressed joy on the arrival of the flood.

They say that flood will help in revival of shrinking forests along river banks from Kotri to Keti Bandar and mangroves in the coastal area.

The flood will reduce hyper salinity in the area and make agricultural land fertile, they say.