LAHORE, Aug 18: The Indus River System Authority (Irsa) will start filling Tarbela and Mangla dams from tomorrow (Saturday), as flood threat now is almost over. The authority had planned dams’ filling by Aug 20. The delay took place following meteorological officials’ warning that the possibility of flood could not be ruled out.

On Thursday, the Tarbela dam stood at 1,548.30 feet — only 1.7 feet below the optimum level. Similarly, Mangla dam was 1,199.35 feet — 2.7 feet below the maximum level.

The authority released 209,600 cusecs from Tarbela out of a total inflow of 235,900 cusecs to keep filling slow. Irsa had to keep filling by one feet a day because of security reasons.