PESHAWAR: Over 250 people were rescued from flooded low-lying villages in the provincial capital after the Kabul River burst its banks on Monday.

On the other hand, the Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) issued a low-medium flood alert for Haripur, Swabi and Nowshera districts due to the opening of the Tarbela Dam’s spillways.

Spokesman for Rescue 1122 Bilal Ahmad Faizi said in a statement that the swollen Kabul River caused its water to enter houses in the nearby low-lying villages in Peshawar.

He said water entered houses in Wazir Killay, Bela Mohmandan, Parchavay and Shah Alam Pul areas prompting rescuers to shift the residents, including women and children, to safer places.

PDMA issues flood alert for Haripur, Swabi and Nowshera due to opening of Tarbela Dam spillways

The spokesman said 225 people were rescued from Bela Mohmandan area early on Monday and 36 from Shah Alam area afterwards due to the rising water in the river.

He said the Rescue 122 had set up rescue and relief camps in Wazir Killay and Parchvay areas of Michini village for the residents, while small boats, ambulances and workers were sent there to handle emergency.

Mr Faizi said the rescue agency had deployed its teams in Nowshera, Swabi and Haripur districts in anticipation of the opening of Tarbela Dam’s spillways.

“We have arranged five boats, three ambulances, a recovery vehicle and around 50 rescuers for every district,” he said.

Meanwhile, the PDMA issued a low-to-medium flooding alert for Haripur, Swabi and Nowshera districts over the opening of Tarbela Dam’s spillways for the first time during the current monsoon spell. A notification issued by the superintending engineer (survey and hydrology) residency, Tarbela Dam project, said the spillways of the dam were likely to be ‘put into operation’ within 24 hours.

“Discharge downstream Tarbela in the Indus River may vary between low to medium flood limits,” it read, adding that all necessary arrangements could be made accordingly.

The PDMA directed district administrations to take precautionary measures to prevent damage to public life, infrastructure, crops and livestock.

In the advisory, the authority directed districts administrations to put all departments on alert round the clock, ensure vigilance of the Indus River Downstream Tarbela and update the vulnerable population to prevent human losses in case of flooding and ensure the availability of machinery in their areas.

Also, an emergency flood control room was established in Haripur deputy commissioner’s office.

A working paper, which was presented by the Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) in the Annual Flood Coordination Conference, 2022, on July 15, said Hariana, Salah, Nabi, Raziabad, Allahdher, Mian Isa, Ali Muhammad, Misri Banda, agricultural farm areas of Swabi, Pir Sabak, Sur Kamar Dheri, Akora, Pindwandi Baba, Santini Dheri and Kheshki Payan villages of Nowshera and Bai village of Haripur were vulnerable areas.

It feared that in an event of river outflow exceeding 600,000 cusecs, the villages situated on the right and left banks of the Indus River for around 40 kilometers downstream of Tarbela would be inundated.

The working paper, however, said the downstream Tarbela valley could take up to 500,000 cusecs of water safely without causing any significant damage to the structure.

“Flows exceeding 600,000 cusecs will inundate adjacent villages and valleys and cause damage to public life and property,” it said.

The PDMA said the outflow of the Kabul River was recorded 95,400 cusecs in Nowshera on Monday afternoon with the river recording medium flood.

It added that the outflows of the Indus River at Khairabad point in Nowshera and Chashma in Dera Ismail Khan were 181,400 and 215,556 cusecs of water, respectively.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2022