High level flood expected in River Sutlej in next 48 hours

LAHORE: Medium to high level flooding is expected in Sutlej River as water levels reached 17.80 feet at Ferozpur and Ganda Singh Wala following the unannounced release of waterways from India entering Pakistan on Tuesday morning.

According to flood notification issued by Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), “Medium to High Flood level is expected in River Sutlej at GS Wala and all the others major rivers will remain in Low to Medium Flood Level,” within the next 48 hours.

“The flow of water is increasing at Ganda Singh Wala and has reached 37,640 cusecs, which is expected to rise during next 10 to 15 hours,” Radio Pakistan reported.

According to Director Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Tariq Masood Farooq water levels are expected to rise in coming hours.

“About 100,000 cusecs is expected to enter in River Sutlej,” said Farooq. “However, the water level in River Ravi is still low as its capacity is 300,000 cusecs.”

Amid the unscheduled opening of waterways by India, Tarbela dam has been filled to a capacity of 1,550 ft.

It has been reported that spillways have been opened to flush out excess water as its flow has reached 198,300 cusecs, whereas all 17 power units are working to full capacity producing 4,888 megawatts of electricity.

The development comes as India provided the data of the river water discharged to Pakistan in a telephonic conversation between Indus water commissioners of the two countries on Tuesday.

According to the water data provided to Pakistan, India has released 24,000 cusecs water in River Sutlej and more 200,000 cusecs could be discharged towards Pakistan, sources said.

According to Indus Basin Treaty, India is bound to give prior information to Pakistan before releasing water to the rivers in Pakistan.

Palku Nullah at Sialkot is in medium flood situation with the current water flow of 3,100 cusecs. In Punjab, all other rivers and nullahs are flowing normally.

River Sindh is currently in medium flood at Guddu with an in-flow of 415,666 cusecs and outflow of 375,466 cusecs, while in low flood at Sukkur with an inflow of 353,287 cusecs and outflow of 294,162.