PESHAWAR: The Provincial Disaster Management Authority has declared nine districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa ‘sensitive’ for flooding and other rain-related incidents in the ongoing monsoon season.

Among these districts are Shangla, Swat, Lower Dir, Chitral, Nowshera, Peshawar, Upper Dir, Charsadda and Dera Ismail Khan, a PDMA official told Dawn on Wednesday.

The official said those districts had been declared sensitive as they suffered badly due to the monsoon rains and subsequent floods in the past.

He said the Pakistan Meteorological Department had forecast that this year’s monsoon rains would be 20 per cent more than the previous years’ and that the season was last until September.

“The monsoon season is expected to be longer this time around,” he said, adding that the PDMA had already finalised the monsoon contingency plan.

Official says western, eastern weather patterns to increase monsoon rainfall by 10-20pc

The official said the KP main dilemma was the short response time it had in case of flooding in upper reaches of Swat, Indus and Kabul rivers.

He said in case of flooding in Swat River, the authorities had from 24 to 48 hours during which floodwaters could reach Nowshera and Charsadda district, while the Indus also took the same time to reach DI Khan.

The official said if Kabul River was flooded at Warsak Dam, the floodwaters had just six hours to reach Peshawar.

He said the lack of early warning system had complicated the issue, as three of the four radars of the PMDC were out of order.

In the seasonal outlook for monsoon issued on June 9, the PMD had noted that the prevailing atmospheric and oceanic conditions were giving indications of good summer monsoon rainfall in the country.

It added that the summer monsoon rainfall was expected to be 10-20 per cent above normal over the country averaged for three months.

The PMD also forecast more than average rainfall in Punjab, KP, Sindh, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, and northeastern Balochistan, and some extreme flood-causing rainfall in the catchment areas of major rivers and other parts of the country.

It said heavy downpour events could cause urban flooding in major cities, while some strong excursions of monsoon currents coupled with high temperatures could trigger glacial lake outbursts floods in upper parts of KP and Gilgit-Baltistan.

PMD regional director Mushtaq Shah told Dawn that western and eastern weather patterns were likely to increase the monsoon rainfall by 10-20 per cent.

He said the first monsoon spell was likely to hit most parts of the province on Saturday and continue until next Tuesday.

When contacted, PDMA spokesperson Latifur Rehman said his organisation had prepared the monsoon flood contingency plan and transferred the amounts of money ranging from Rs1 million to Rs5 million to 13 district government accounts two days ago.

He said the districts had already funds up to Rs5 million in their accounts for disaster management.

Mr. Latif said the PDMA had also purchased Rs110 million relief goods, including tents, blankets, mats and other kitchen items, to meet any emergency during the rainy season.

He said all that was in addition to the emergency items stored with the district governments across the province.

The spokesman said control rooms had been established at district and divisional levels to report to the PDMA Provincial Emergency Operations Centre, which would function nonstop.

Published in Dawn, June 30th, 2016