LAHORE: As the furious Chenab River extended its rampage to south Punjab on Sunday, more rain over the badly bruised north-eastern parts of the province claimed another seven lives.

The seven people belonging to two families were killed in Hafizabad’s Abdullahpur village as the soaked roofs of their houses could not endure the burden of the wall of an adjacent rice mill collapsed during a severe rainstorm.

The storm also lashed several cities and towns from Sialkot to Lahore regions and triggered panic among people, reminding them of the large-scale devastation caused by a three-day rainy spell and floods in the eastern rivers about 10 days ago.

At least 197 people died because of rains and floods, especially in Chenab, till Saturday. And the latest casualties, including 17 in Multan, took the death toll to 219.

The authorities blew up the Doaba spur on Sunday to save the town of Muzaffargarh. Another breach in Muradabad and Thatta Sialan spurs flooded Muradabad and Bhutrapur areas on the outskirts of Muzaffargarh. Hundreds of homes and crops over a large area were damaged by the breach in Thatta Sialan and the floodwater entered Tulheri Canal and some parts of the town.

Water discharge at Panjnad headworks was falling after touching a peak of 371,000 cusecs, probably because of breaches upstream near Multan and Muzaffargarh.

Our Multan correspondent adds: The water level at Head Muhammadwala and Bund Bosan started receding, but it was high at Shujabad and Jalalpur.

RAIN: Rain in Lahore was brief but heavy around the airport. It was accompanied by a dust storm which uprooted a number of trees and brought billboards down. Low-lying areas were inundated. The Met office recorded 32mm of rain at the airport and 12mm at the Jail Road observatory and said it was produced by a westerly wave.

Islamabad’s Zero Point received 46mm rain and airport 27mm, Mandi Bahauddin 37mm, Sargodha 35mm, Garhi Dupatta 30mm, Mangla 25mm, Sialkot airport 16mm and Cantt 12mm, Chakwal and Jhelum 14mm each, Jauharabad 10mm, Gujrat 9mm, Kasur 8mm, Rawlakot 7mm and Gujranwala and Murree 5mm each. The Met department forecast isolated thunderstorm/rain with heavy falls over Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Lahore, Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Kohat, Hazara, Peshawar, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir over the next 24 hours.

There are chances of isolated rain over Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Kalat, Naseerabad, Sibbi, Quetta, Zhob, Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and Fata and land-sliding in hilly areas.

The Flood Forecasting Division said the rain over the catchment of Jhelum River sent 100,000 cusecs of water to Mangla Dam which was released downstream because the dam was already filled to capacity.

Chenab was in high flood at Panjnad where the discharge at 9pm was 363,000 cusecs and was likely to rise to 450,000 to 500,000 cusecs.

The FFD, which had earlier said the discharge could rise to 700,000 cusecs, revised the estimates on Sunday because of the diversion of floodwater owing to several breaches made near Jhang and Multan over the past three days.

The high flood (71,000 cusecs) in the Ravi at Sidhnai started receding and falling into the Chenab upstream Panjnad.

The FFD forecast high to very high flood in the Indus River at Guddu on Monday and Tuesday and at Sukkur on Wednesday and Thursday after the peak in Chenab would fall downstream Panjnad.

The Inter-Services Public Relations said the army’s rescue and relief operations continued in the flood-hit areas of Multan, Muzaffargarh, Uch Sharif, Bahawalpur and Athara Hazari. About 73,000 people have been rescued by 300 boats. Army helicopters dropped 80 tons of ration and the affected people are being treated at its medical camps.

Published in Dawn, September 15th , 2014