The disaster authority’s emergency centre warns that rain colliding with rising temperatures could trigger flooding and glacial lake outburst floods across Gilgit-Baltistan, KP and Kashmir through June 20.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued a flood and glacial-lake alert for the country’s northern regions, warning that a westerly weather system bringing rain through June 20 could combine with rising temperatures to trigger flooding and glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs), ProPakistani reported. The alert, issued by the NDMA’s National Emergencies Operation Centre, is valid from June 16 to 20, according to the Express Tribune.
The NDMA said that between June 16 and 19, the combination of rainfall and rising temperatures may create flood-like situations in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, per the Express Tribune. The authority warned that rapidly melting glaciers and possible GLOFs could send heavy water flows down streams and rivers, the same advisory stated.
The NDMA named Hassanabad, Shishper, Gulkin, Gulmit, Passu, Nagar, Ghizer, Skardu and Shigar as high-risk zones for glacial lake outburst floods, a list carried identically by both ProPakistani and the Express Tribune. Beyond the mountains, the advisory said thunderstorms, strong winds, scattered rain and possible hail would also reach districts of Punjab, Balochistan and upper Sindh, according to ProPakistani.
The NDMA alert tracks a forecast from the Pakistan Meteorological Department, which predicted a widespread spell of thunderstorms, gusty winds and rainfall across upper and plain regions from June 16 to 20, The Nation reported. The Met Office cautioned that heavy rainfall could trigger flash floods in local streams and nullahs and set off landslides in hilly regions including upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Murree, Galiyat, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, per The Nation.
The NDMA directed provincial and district authorities to remain prepared for emergencies and to keep mountainous and highway areas on high alert against landslides and road closures, according to the Express Tribune. Tourists and travellers were advised to check weather and road conditions before heading to northern areas, both the disaster authority and the Express Tribune noted.
The warnings follow a deadly stretch of pre-monsoon weather. Arab News, citing the Met Office, reported that at least 12 people were killed in heavy rains in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab in the preceding week, and that the nationwide death toll from torrential rains in late March and early April had crossed 80 — figures attributed to Arab News and not independently confirmed here. The NDMA has separately projected that Pakistan’s 2026 monsoon could be 22 to 26 percent wetter than last year, the Express Tribune reported.
