The National Disaster Management Authority has issued a flood alert with rain expected to continue until 17 September (Express Tribune).
Where
| Region | Districts | |—|—| | Gilgit-Baltistan | Gilgit, Diamer, Ghizer, Ashkoman, Gupis-Yasin, Nagar, Hunza, Shimshal, Skardu, Shigar | | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | Upper Dir, Swat, Bajaur, Malakand, Kurram, Kohistan, Mohmand, Orakzai | | Balochistan | Zhob, Sherani, Musakhel | | Punjab and Islamabad | urban flooding possible in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Sargodha, Jhang, Toba Tek Singh, Sheikhupura |
The warnings
Flash flooding in mountainous areas and higher river and stream flows in upper regions. Citizens are advised not to cross rainwater channels, inundated roads, bridges or low-lying passages.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the NDMA to deploy all resources and to strengthen federal-provincial coordination.
The districts that should be read twice
The Gilgit-Baltistan list includes Ghizer and Hunza, which were disrupted by cloudburst floods earlier this month, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa list includes districts where this newspaper reported on 13 September that roads washed out in Kaghan and Manoor were still being rebuilt.
An alert covering areas whose last flood damage has not yet been repaired is a different proposition from one covering intact infrastructure. The alternative track at Rati Galli was finished days ago.
The urban half
Islamabad and Rawalpindi appear on the list at a moment when about 500 impounded container vehicles are parked around the capital’s approaches and 1,000 more have been requested. Nullah Leh, which floods Rawalpindi, does so fastest when drainage routes are obstructed.
We have seen no reporting connecting the two, and we are not asserting one. It is a question worth someone asking before Thursday.
What is not established
No rainfall totals or river gauge readings were published, and no evacuation orders have been reported. The alert does not give expected flood magnitudes for any specific river.
[Image: Agha Mehroz/Express]
