Punjab & KP on High Alert as India Releases Floodwater Without Prescheduling

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) have issued flood alerts, as India has released water into Sutlej River from the Alchi Dam.

PDMA Punjab issued the flood alert in the wake of rising water levels in River Sutlej. Whereas, the PDMA KP director-general also warned of a flooding situation in River Indus while revealing that India has opened the ‘outlets’ of Alchi dam without any preschedule.

PDMA Punjab stated that floodwater of around 125,000 and 175,000 cusec will hit Ganda Singh Wala, a border village near Kasur, in the next 12 to 24 hours. The authority has issued an alert to the relevant agencies, directing them to take all the protective measures.

The authority also said that the flood alert is meant to avoid the loss of lives and properties.

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Meanwhile, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (Met) has also issued a flood/weather advisory. The department states, “very heavy to extremely heavy rainfall has been observed over the upper and lower catchments of Rivers Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi during the last 72 hours”.

Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar has called an emergency meeting to discuss the flood alerts and steps taken for relief work as well as security arrangements.

Also, the PDMA KP director-general has written a letter to several provincial deputy commissioners, alerting them of the rising water levels because of the opening of Alchi dam.

According to the letter, the water will reach the Tarbela dam in 12 hours and DI Khan in 12-18 hours. “The damming authorities at Tarbela have been instructed by [National Disaster Management Authority] NDMA to regulate the inflow and water discharge so as to overcome a flooding situation,” stated the letter.