Gilgit River flowing at danger level in northern Pakistan
By Iqbal Ahmed Khan - Pakistan Times Staff Correspondent

GILGIT: Fearing floods in Gilgit River further intensifying, hundreds of people living on and around the banks of the river and low-lying areas have been asked to swiftly move out of their homes to some safer places, as water level in the river was still keeping higher above the danger level.

The floods in Gilgit-river breaking previous 40-year records have inundated several low-lying areas, while the erosion continued threatening more areas.

Meanwhile, all sorts of traffic on Gilgit –Ghizer road has seized due to flooding of mountainous streams hitting it near Sharot, while at Gulmutee area of Ghizer the gushing floodwater of the streams washed away 60 bags of wheat, 2 garages and 4 houses.

Besides potable water supply to Sonikot, Jotial, Zulfiqarabad, Wahdat colony including several upper areas of the town has stopped due to over three dozens of water pumps installed on the banks of the river for irrigation and drinking water supply have inundated in the furious floods.

Member local body Gilgit’s Sakarkai constituency, Shamsur Rahman told Geo that over three hundred houses were hit by the floods in village Sakarkai, while the wheat crops on three thousand kanal lands besides thousands of trees were uprooted by the onrush of floods.

He told that Chamogarh colony has been totally evacuated, while the greater water supply system to Gilgit city was severely hit by the deluge interrupting water supply to 80 percent areas of the city.

Police, magistrate and hospitals have been put on high alert to meet any eventualities, while a control room set up with telephone no.50105 for this purpose was working round the clock providing succour and relief to the affected, a communiqué of District Magistrate Gilgit, Zarak Mirza said.

Kabul River inundates more Villages

Meanwhile a report from Peshawar says that eight more villages were inundated Friday by floodwater from Kabul River in three districts of the NWFP as the provincial assembly, through a unanimous resolution, demanded a Rs 5 billion relief package from federal government to carry out rescue and rehabilitation work in the affected areas.

Rescue operations, meanwhile, continued in flood-hit areas of Peshawar, Nowshera and Charsadda districts as the water level in Kabul and Swat rivers continued to rise. However, there are no reports about any human casualty or cattle loss.

The rise in Kabul and Swat rivers also created high flow of water in the tributaries that inundated some more villages in Peshawar and Charsadda and Nowshera districts.

Latest reports says, Takhtabada, Chagharmatai, Beela and Shagai in Peshawar district, while Lajbur Qilla, Hajizai, Mohookhatkay, Ghani Tapu in Charsadda, and Nowshera Kalan in district Nowshera were flooded.

It was also confirmed that the rescue teams had already shifted the population from these areas to safer localities due to which no human casualty was reported till filing of this report.

Official sources said that on Friday all rivers flowing through central NWFP were in high flood.

Warsak Dam

Warsak Dam authorities said the maximum water flow was recorded 1,00,000 cusecs at 4:00 pm, where above 70,000 cusecs flow is considered flood. At Attock point the water flow was recorded 2,64,303, which is considered as low flood.

Sources from Nowshera confirmed that there was Kabul River was in high flood at Nowshera, where 1,22,400 cusecs water flow was recorded at 1:00 pm.

Besides, all tributaries of rivers Kabul and Swat were also in high flood, as according to reports at Shalam the maximum water flow was 14,449 cusecs, 36,144 cusecs at Munda, 29,246 cusecs at Aman Darra, 4438 cusecs at Naguman and at Sadaryab point the maximum water flow of 16,246 cusecs was recorded.

Assembly's Demand

The NWFP Assembly through a unanimous resolution demanded Rs 5 billion from federal government to launch rescue operation besides rehabilitation work in all the affected areas.

PPP-P Parliamentary Leader Abdul Akbar Khan raised the issue at the floor of the House. He said the provincial government was already short of financial resources so it would be very hard for the government to quickly respond to floods situation, which had already inundated central parts of the NWFP.

ANP lawmaker Bashir Ahmad Bilour and PPP-S MPA Sikandar Sherpao also supported the resolution. However, when some members of the treasury benches wished to speak in favour of the resolution, Speaker Bakht Jehan Khan suggested to present a resolution and after mustering consensus within the House, the resolution was passes unanimously.●