-- Situation a chilling reminder of the damage wrought by 2010 floods
-- Dyke blown up to protect Jhang
-- Embankments downstream to be breached to shield Multan
-- Grim prospects for some other Punjab districts
-- Water level rises up to 8 feet in some villages
-- Army deploys 7 helicopters and 90 boats in Jhang and Chiniot districts
As per Federal Flood Department Lahore, River Chenab at Punjnad is likely to attain levels of 600,000 cusecs to 700,000 cusecs - an exceptionally high flood-from September 12 to 15. Under this condition, Toba Tek Singh, Khanewal, Layyah, Muzaffargarh and Multan districts are likely to be inundated.
Due to a second wave in River Chenab peak, an exceptionally high flood (above 600,000 cusecs) will persist at the Trimmu for the next 24 to 48 hours with a likely peak discharge of 800,000 cusecs, till September 12. Under this condition, Multan, Muzafargarh, Khanewal, Jhang and Toba Tek Singh districts are likely to be inundated. Flood Forecasting Division further predicted scattered thunder showers with isolated heavy falls over Mirpurkhas, Hyderabad, Sukkur and Karachi Divisions during the next 24 hours. Isolated thundershowers may also occur over Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, & Kohat Divisions, besides Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir including upper catchments areas of Rivers Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi & Sutlej during the same period.
Federal flood commission states that other main rivers, Indus, Jhelum and Sutlej, are flowing normal. On Wednesday, actual river flows and reservoir elevations indicate that Tarbela Dam, which had earlier attained its maximum conservation Level of 1550.00 feet on August 20, 2014, was at elevation of 1541.12 feet on Wednesday, which is 8.88 feet below its maximum conservation Level of 1550.00 feet, whereas Mangla Dam is at elevation of 1241.65 feet ie 0.35 feet below its maximum conservation Level of 1242.00 feet.
The Dam Management Authorities have been advised to take utmost care and vigilance in operations and strictly follow filling criteria and safety guidelines. Wednesday's combined live storage capacity of Tarbela, Chashma & Mangla reservoirs is 13.580MAF as compared to last year's 13.767 MAF.
The death toll in Gujranwala reached 63, whereas 32 people were killed in floods in Sialkot. In Lahore Division, death toll soared to 51, whereas 30 deaths reported in Rawlapindi Division. In AJK, Haveli is more affected due to heavy rains and flash floods where 29 people died. The Gilgit-Baltistan Diamer is hit by natural climate where eight people died.
Flooding destroyed crops spreading over 0.66 acres of land in Punjab and Azad Jammu and Kashmir. The position of river inflows and outflows at Tarbela, Mangla and Chashma along with the reservoirs levels and the barrages on Wednesday was: Indus at Tarbela: Inflows 106,000 cusecs and outflows 54,800 cusecs; Kabul at Nowshera: Inflows and outflow are 17,600 cusecs; Jhelum at Mangla: Inflows 82,000 cusecs and outflows 73,300 cusecs; Chenab at Marala: Inflows 78,700 cusecs and outflows 75,700 cusecs.
AFP adds: Authorities have blown up a strategic embankment to divert raging floodwaters away from Jhang, officials said Wednesday, as the death toll passed 250 around the country. More than half a million people have been affected by the floods which began in the Himalayan territory of Kashmir last week and have flown downriver into Punjab, the National Disaster Management Authority said. The waters have swept away homes and destroyed roads and swathes of farmland in a chilling reminder of the damage wrought by 2010 floods, the worst in the country's history that killed more than 1,700 people and affected 18 million.
In the central city of Jhang in Punjab, authorities deliberately breached an embankment to divert floodwaters, a senior provincial disaster management official told AFP. "This breach was the last option to save the lives and property of residents in Jhang, this was a must to save the city," the official told AFP.
The city had a population of around 400,000 at the last census in 1998. Khawaja Asif, minister for defence, water and power, confirmed the breach and told parliament that it was done "to avert catastrophe". Resident Muhammad Zulfiqar, 47, told AFP: "I can see water flowing everywhere and the water level has risen up to eight feet in some villages. Those left behind are on the rooftops of their houses."
A senior rescue official in Lahore told AFP that some 100 boats were rescuing residents to and more than 4,000 people had so far been evacuated in Jhang. At least 256 people have been killed nation-wide, according to the National Disaster Management Authority, and 581,193 "affected" - a term that covers everything from loss of property to bereavement.
The army meanwhile has been carrying out rescue operations, deploying seven helicopters and 90 boats in Jhang and the nearby district of Chinot to rescue some 2,500 people, according to a statement. Authorities were also preparing explosives to breach more embankments further downstream to protect the major city of Multan, lawmaker Chaudhry Abdul Waheed Arain said, in a move that could flood some 200 villages.
Nusrat Mai, a woman from the village of Basti Ghota near Multan, told AFP from a makeshift camp: "The floods have completely destroyed us, boats came to rescue us... we don't have food and we don't have anything." In Azad Kashmir, where the flooding began, more than 20,000 people living in mud houses in remote areas are now facing food shortages after roads were destroyed. "It took me seven hours to reach here and my house is nine kilometres away which has been damaged by rains," Mohammad Hussain, 60, accompanied by his wife and six children told AFP from the village of Naikabad, some 170 kilometres (106 miles) east of the region's main city of Muzaffarabad.