ISLAMABAD: September 15 marks the end of monsoon season in Pakistan, and although the monsoon brought more than normal rainfall this year, there have not been any serious floods in major rivers across the country.

Monsoon in Pakistan lasts from July 1 to September 15 and this year, the rainy season - which consists of the months of Sawan and Badhon - also ended on September 14.

However, officials of the Met Office said heavy rainfall is expected in the second fortnight of September as well.

According to official data, most of the devastation caused by heavy rainfall have been caused in the first two weeks of September most years.

The floods of 2011, which killed more than 360 people, were triggered by four rain spells between September 1 and 4.

In 2012, heavy rainfall had begun on September 2 and continued until September 12 causing flash floods which lead to a lot of devastation.

The rains that year had left 100 people dead in Sindh, had wrecked devastation in Dera Ghazi Khan and Rajanpur and left five districts in eastern Balochistan cut off from the rest of the country.

Many parts of Pakistan were flooded in the August of 2013 and heavy rains in the September of 2014 in Azad Kashmir (AJK) and Punjab had lead to floods in the rivers Chenab and Jhelum.

Rainfall during the monsoon this year was 27pc more than normal, according to Met Office data.

Punjab received 57pc more rain than normal, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa recieved 39pc more rain than normal and it rained 24pc more in Gilgit-Baltistan. However, it rained 15pc less than normal in AJK and Balochistan while rainfall in Sindh was normal.

However, the Met Office has said there is no link between higher cumulative rainfall and floods.

“The spread of rainfall is important: mild rain of 100mm in regular intervals during a month is not dangerous but the same amount within a few hours will flood rivers and cities or bring flash floods,” said Dr Ghulam Rasool, director general of the Pakistan Meteorological Department.

There are three types of floods, the first of which are riverine floods which are caused when rivers overflow, while flash floods are a gush of water flowing down hilly areas due to heavy rains. Urban flooding is a man-made disaster and is caused due to poor urban planning and an improper drainage system.

“This year, many parts of KP including Chitral and parts of the Suleman Range in Punjab faced flash floods while urban flooding was witnesses in Karachi and Lahore, which is not caused by heavy rains,” Dr Rasool said.

The warm and moist winds from the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal are weakening due to the changing weather and the cold winds from the north and west are pushing in. The combination of the two contrary winds are expected to bring rains and thunderstorms to Malakand, GB, Lahore, Gujranwala, Quetta and Kalat while the weather in the rest of the country is expected to be dry on Friday and Saturday.

The highest temperature in the country was recorded at 42 degrees Celsius in Shaheed Benazirabad, Dalbandin while the temperature in Islamabad was 34 degrees.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2016