The flood has played havoc with lives and property in upstream Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab.

An irrigation expert told Dawn that the highest flow recorded previously at the point was in 1901 when it reached about 900,000 cusecs. A large part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had been affected at that time as well. The authorities do not have any dependable data for years before 1901.

“The biggest-ever flood in Pakistan's history was recorded at about 4pm on Sunday when 1,034,000 cusecs crossed Chashma,” an official said. The flows then started to recede and fell to 967,000 cusecs by 8pm.

In 1976, the flows at Chashma had touched 750,000 cusecs.

The country's highest flood-related human loss was 1,008 deaths recorded in 1992. Most of the losses were caused by the Jhelum and Chenab rivers in Azad Kashmir and Punjab.

“The loss of lives this season might have already breached the 1992 level,” an official said, referring to statements by different sources.

The official said the authorities in Sindh had been warned of an extraordinarily dangerous situation in areas adjoining Sukkur and Guddu barrages and their catchments, commonly known as the katcha region, because of rising flows.

He said the provincial government had been asked to remove people from the katcha areas of Sukkur and Guddu to avoid any “big loss”.

He said the Guddu barrage was currently in low flood with 255,000 cusecs and would experience medium flood on Monday with up to 400,000 cusecs.

The flows at Attock-Khairabad remained in the exceptionally high range at 740,000 cusecs in the evening, followed by 750,000 cusecs at Taunsa which were forecast to go up to 900,000 cusecs.

The official said that head-regulators at Thal canal were in danger and irrigation authorities were trying to protect it.

The flows in Indus at Kalabagh were 'exceptionally high' with 840,000 cusecs but had dropped at Tarbela to 370,000 cusecs.

The Jhelum inflows at Mangla also normalised to about 150,000 cusecs.

Intikhab Hanif adds from Lahore A fresh monsoon low is expected to enter the country on Monday night and result in low-to-moderate rain with isolated heavy falls in Sindh, south Punjab and parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa over the next two days.

The Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) forecast on Sunday that the system might cause problems in lower Sindh by the time the peak of exceptionally high Indus flood reaches there.

It said the Indus was likely to attain a high flood level at Guddu on Tuesday and exceptionally high on Aug 6.

The river is likely to attain a high flood level at Sukkur on Aug 4 and exceptionally high level on Aug 7.

Riverine and low-lying areas of the districts of Ghotki, Sukkur, Larkana, Nawabshah, Hyderabad and Naushehro Feroze may be affected.

The FFD said that on Sunday the river Jhelum at Rasul and Kabul at Nowshera were in high flood.

The Indus at Sukkur and the Chenab at Marala were in low flood.

Over the past 24 hours, moisture from the Arabian Sea generated rain in some cities.

Sialkot received 124mm of rainfall, Jhelum 36mm, Lahore downtown 25mm and Upper Mall 7mm, Palku 68mm, Kund 62mm, Kotli 37mm, Badin 14mm, Zhob 8mm, Serai Alamgir 5mm and Bahawalpur and Murree 4mm.The FFD forecast scattered rain over Punjab, northeast Balochistan, southeast Sindh and Kashmir over the next 24 hours. Isolated rain was forecast in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan. The Met office forecast light rain in Lahore.