LAHORE: Pakistan’s Punjab province is facing an unprecedented crisis, with all three of its major rivers — the Chenab, Ravi and Sutlej — simultaneously in “super flood” for the first time in recorded history, a top disaster agency official said on Saturday.
The rare convergence of swollen rivers has inundated swathes of the country’s breadbasket province, fed by record monsoon rains and water releases from upstream India. Flood Forecasting Division data shows exceptionally high levels at multiple headworks, while the Pakistan Meteorological Department has warned of further rains in the upper catchments in early September, threatening to intensify the deluge.
“Currently, the situation is very precarious … we have received high flows in all three major rivers,” Punjab PDMA Director-General Irfan Ali Kathia told Arab News in an interview. “Never in the history of Pakistan and Punjab have three major rivers been in super flood at the same time.”
Kathia said flows in the Sutlej on Friday were the highest since 1955, while the Ravi had not carried such volumes since 1988. He described the crisis as “unprecedented,” with floodwaters still surging through central Punjab.
The Flood Forecasting Division (FFD) said exceptionally high flood levels would persist in the Sutlej at Ganda Singh Wala, while the Chenab at Trimmu was expected to reach the same threshold within 24 hours. The Ravi at Balloki was also in dangerous flood, with further surges forecast. The FFD warned that the Panjnad would face very high flood by September 3, and the Indus at Guddu by September 5, as monsoon flows continue downstream.
