Major rivers flowing normally, says FFC
ISLAMABAD: The Federal Flood Commission (FFC) has said all main rivers, including Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej, are flowing normally.
According to a daily report released by the FFC on Tuesday, the actual reservoir elevation indicates that Tarbela Dam is at an elevation of 1537.06 feet, which is 12.94 feet below its maximum conservation level (MCL) of 1550 feet and Mangla Dam at 1227.85 feet, which is 14.15 feet below its MCL of 1242.00 feet.
The combined live storage capacity of Tarbela, Chashma and Mangla reservoirs stood at 12.197 MAF on Tuesday.
According to the Flood Forecasting Division Lahore, Monday’s trough of westerly wave continues to prevail over northern parts of the country, whereas well marked low pressure area over north-eastern Maharashtra (India) has moved north-westwards and lies over north-western Madhya Pradesh and adjoining Rajasthan (India).
Seasonal low still persists over north-western Balochistan. Moist current from the Arabian Sea is penetrating into Sindh, Punjab and Kashmir up to 5,000 feet.
Rain forecast
Scattered thundershowers with isolated heavy falls are expected over Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur, Lahore and Faisalabad divisions, including south-eastern Sindh and Kashmir, over the next 24 hours.
Scattered thundershowers may also occur over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan, including upper catchments of rivers Indus, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej, besides isolated thundershowers over north-eastern Balochistan during the same period.
Scattered thundershowers with heavy to very heavy falls at isolated places are expected over upper catchments of rivers Sutlej, Ravi and Chenab.
Significant rainfall events expected over the past 24 hours include: Marala (97mm); Lahore: Misri Shah (84mm), Shahdara and Shahi Qilla (83mm) each, city (35mm), Upper Mall (22mm) and airport (11mm); Islamabad: Zero Point (59mm), Saidpur (30mm) and Bokra (14mm); Shadiwal (56mm), Gujrat (52mm), Ravi Syphon (51mm); Sialkot: Cantt (46mm) and airport (31mm); Chhor (43mm), Faisalabad (42mm), Gujranwala (28mm), Oghi (25mm), Kakul (23mm), Tarbela (20mm), Kallar (19mm), Hattian Bala (18mm), Besham (17mm), Daggar and Barkhan (16mm) each, Kund, Palandri and Badin (15mm) each, Shinkiari and Jassar (14mm) each, Bhakkar and Lower Dir (13mm) each, Malamjabba and Sibbi (12mm) each and Balakot (10mm).
Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2014