LAHORE: The monsoon low pressure over India generating torrential rain unleashed its full face of fury on Punjab, Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Friday, leaving another 85 people dead.

Forty people were killed in Punjab, 11 in Gilgit-Baltistan, seven in KP and 27 in Azad Kashmir in rain-related incidents.

At least 52 people had died on Thursday, taking the death toll to 137 in two days. A large number of people were injured.

Reports from different parts of the country indicated huge losses to property, cattle and crops, especially in Sialkot and Gujranwala regions, due to swelling of nullahs and exceptionally high flood in Chenab and Jhelum rivers.

Incessant rain, accumulation of rainwater in cities, reports of more deaths and floods in the two rivers kept people tense. In Lahore and Kasur, people were worried about the swelling of Ravi and Sutlej rivers, despite consolation by the Met department that there was no such threat for now.

One piece of good news was that the rain-generating monsoon system weakened on Friday evening and the Met office said the spell was likely to decrease after 24 hours.

Almost entire Lahore was submerged by rainwater which was much more than the draining capacity of the city and weather combating preparations or will of the Punjab government.

Huge losses to property, cattle and crops; exceptionally high flood in Chenab, Jhelum

Life in the city and other rain-hit towns remained paralysed for the second day running. Supplies of essential items too were badly affected. People were confined to their homes, unable to reach their workplaces. Educational institutions remained closed.

According to Rescue 1122, eight people, women and children among them, were killed and several others injured in rain-related incidents. Houses were levelled by rain, which was heavier around the Lahore airport.

The Met office reported 299mm of rain at the airport and 185mm at its Jail Road observatory over the past 24 hours. It recorded 237mm of rain at the airport and 136mm on Jail Road only from 8am to 5pm on Friday.

According to Rescue 1122, five people were killed in Narowal, five in Sheikhupura, three each in Sialkot and Okara and four in Pakpatan when their houses collapsed.

Eleven people were killed in Rawalpindi and one in Chakwal in rain-related incidents.

Six bodies of the people who went missing after a bridge collapse in Dina were recovered on Friday.

In Azad Kashmir, another 27 people were killed by torrential rains, which triggered landslides and flash floods in the rugged mountainous region. Thirteen people were killed in Sudhnoti, six each in Kotli and Havelian and two in Rawlakot.

Three soldiers and seven civilians were killed in landslides and flash floods in the region on Thursday.

The Met office said Planadri, in AJK, was the worst-hit town. It received 660mm of rain over the past 24 hours. Islamabad airport received 260mm and Zero Point 212mm, Rawalakot 248mm, Okara 165mm, Murree 158mm, Kakul 111mm, Mangla 106mm, Kasur 82mm, Mandi Bahauddin 74mm, Gujranwala and Garhi Dupatta 73mm each, Balakot 70mm, Astore, Muzaffarabad and Skardu 63mm each, Chakwal 59mm, Sargodha 49mm, Sialkot Cantt 47mm, Jhelum and Sialkot 30mm each, Chillas 29mm, Gujrat 27mm and Saidu Sharif 23mm.

FLOODS: The Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) reported exceptionally high flood in river Jhelum at Mangla, with a discharge of 650,000 cusecs. It expected release of water from Mangla Dam and as a result exceptionally high flood at Rasul at midnight. The expected peak at this point was 500,000 cusecs.

A peak of 452,000 cusecs which crossed river Chenab at Marala on Friday morning started falling. According to the FFD, the peak was moving towards Khanki and Qadirabad, where the flow was likely to range between 514,000 and 600,000 cusecs (very high flood) during the night.

It called for precautionary measures in Gujrat, Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin and Sargodha because of chances of spillovers and breaches at weaker embankments of the rivers.

In Sialkot, crops over hundreds of acres were destroyed because of high flood in nullahs and river Chenab. Several villages around river Bajwat were cut off from other areas.

FORECAST: The Pakistan Meteorological Department said the rain-generating well-marked low pressure area over west Rajasthan (India) had weakened and moved to Indian Punjab.

The contributing moist current from the Arabian Sea also lost its strength. The system is likely to dissipate by Sunday. But before that it was expected to produce another round of widespread rain, with isolated heavy falls over upper catchments of Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej rivers, along with Rawalpindi, Gujranwala and Lahore divisions.

Published in Dawn, September 6th , 2014