FFC forecasts heavy rainfall, flooding risk for major rivers

WEB DESK: The Federal Flood Commission (FFC) has forecasted medium flooding in the River Chenab and anticipates medium to high flow levels in the nullahs within the catchment areas of the Rivers Ravi and Chenab over the next 24 hours.

In its daily report issued on Sunday, the FFC noted that the River Indus is currently experiencing medium flood conditions at the Taunsa-Guddu reach, while it is under low flood conditions at both the Tarbela-Kalabagh reach and at the Sukkur Barrage.

The River Kabul continues to flow at a low flood level at Nowshera. All other major rivers within the Indus River System—namely the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, and Sutlej—are currently discharging normal flows.

The report also highlighted that the combined live storage of the country’s principal reservoirs—Tarbela, Mangla, and Chashma—stands at 10.353 million acre-feet (MAF), which represents 77.53 per cent of the total storage capacity of 13.354 MAF.

The Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) in Lahore has observed that the trough of the Westerly Wave, which was previously over northern Afghanistan, is now positioned over the northern parts of Pakistan.

Additionally, the upper air cyclonic circulation that was located over central Jharkhand, India, has moved to south Uttar Pradesh, India.

An active monsoon trough extends from the Bay of Bengal to northeastern Punjab, with moderate to strong moist currents penetrating the upper regions of the country from the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal up to 5,000 feet. A seasonal low continues to persist over northeast Balochistan.

The FFD predicts that over the next 24 hours, there will be scattered to widespread thunderstorms with moderate to heavy rain and isolated very heavy falls expected over the upper catchments of all major rivers and Islamabad.

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