ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Meteorological Department (Met) has forecast another spell of rain from Oct. 5-8 in the upper parts of the country, state-run media reported this week.
Pakistan’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) warned this month that torrential rains from Sept. 26 to Oct. 1 are likely to trigger flash floods in the country’s eastern Punjab province and in some parts of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Director General Pakistan Meteorological Department, Mahr Sahibzad Khan, has said a spell of rain is expected in the upper parts of the country from the 5th to 8th of next month,” Radio Pakistan reported on Friday.
Speaking at a news conference, Khan said “less than normal rainfall” is expected to take place in the post-monsoon period this year from October to December.
“Sharing details of the water position in reservoirs, he said that Tarbela is eighty-six percent full while Mangla is seventy-six percent full,” the state broadcaster said.
Torrential monsoon rains from July 1 till the first week of September have killed 347 people, including 175 children and 54 women, across the country, according to the NDMA.
Global organizations, such as the United Nations, see Pakistan as among the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather patterns and climate change, with floods wreaking havoc in 2022, killing more than 1,700 people and displacing millions.
Scientists also attribute the country’s erratic weather changes to climate change effects. This year, the South Asian state recorded its “wettest April since 1961,” after recording 59.3 millimeters of rainfall, while some areas of the country faced deadly heatwaves in May and June.
