LAHORE, Feb 15: The system which caused rain in the Punjab and elsewhere in the country on Tuesday would further intensify on Feb 16 and 17, putting small dams under stress and causing landslides and flash flows in hilly areas.
This was announced by the Flood Forecasting Division in a significant forecast issued to the Punjab, the NWFP and Balochistan here on Tuesday. According to the forecast, the structures of check or delay dams (small dams constructed to control the flow of water in rivers) would be under stress and there were possibilities of spill-overs. They included the Rawal, Simli and the Khanpur dams.
There might also be landslides and flash flows in the hilly areas which would have more heavy snowfall and rain during the next three days, mainly on Thursday and Friday, the forecast said.
Chief Meteorologist Shaukat Awan, who heads the FFD, said weak and shelter-type residential quarters in the hilly areas of the NWFP and the Punjab too faced danger of destruction because of the likely increase in the burden of snow over their roofs.
He said there was no danger to the Mangla and Tarbela dams, which had enough cushion to absorb the increased flow in Jhelum and Indus. He maintained the westerly system that entered Pakistan from Iran on Feb 13 had moved towards Northern Areas on Tuesday after causing rain and snowfall in Balochistan.
Mr Awan said the system would start clearing out by Feb 19 and the overall weather conditions would improve after Feb 20. The present system, he said, was persisting and had the potential to intensify because of a surface low pressure, upper air system and strong westerly winds. "This is a rare combination and that is why we are facing abnormally long wet spells," he said.
Meanwhile, rain in many of the Punjab cities, including Lahore, paralyzed life. It lowered the day's maximum temperature and people found it hard to beat the cold weather because of low gas supply and repeated power break downs.
In Lahore, the rain started early in the morning, making it difficult to travel. Many children could not go to schools and attendance in offices remained thin. The city's markets wore a deserted look, as rain prevented people from going out. There were frequent power fluctuations and outages.
By 5pm, the local meteorological office had recorded 11mm of rain at its Jail Road Observatory and 7mm at the airport. It reported that Bahawalnagar received 6mm of rain, Sargodha and Jhelum 9mm each and Sialkot 20mm. There were chances of scattered thunderstorm and rain in the province during the next 24 hours.