Islamabad hospitals put on high alert after prediction of heavy rainfall

ISLAMABAD: The hospitals in the federal capital Islamabad put on high alert by the higher authorities after the Met Office forecast heavy rainfall which may generate flash flooding upper parts of the country, ARY News reported on Tuesday.

The district administration has put the state-owned Poly Clinic, PIMS and CDA hospitals on high alert and sent written instructions to the medical facilities.

The letter stated that heavy downpour is expected in the federal capital during the next days and ordered the hospitals to take special measures to coup with the emergency situation. The administration also directed the medical facilities to appoint focal persons in view of an emergency situation.

Weather forecast

The Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) had predicted that a strong rainy system is likely to approach in upper parts of the country that will produce widespread rain with heavy fall at a number of places in Punjab, upper Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP), Gilgit-Baltistan (GB), Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) during Sunday evening to Tuesday.

A press release of PMD said, “Heavy to Very Heavy falls are also expected in Rawalpindi, Attock, Chakwal, Jhelum, Mandi Bahauddin, Hafizabad, Gujranwala, Sialkot, Narowal, Lahore, Kasur, Okara, Faisalabad, Jhang, Sargodha, Mianwali, Khushab, Toba Tek Singh from Monday to Wednesday. Heavy falls may also likely in Rajanpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Bahawalpur, Khanewal, Zhob and Barkhan.”

It added that ‘heavy to very heavy falls’ are also expected in Dir, Swat, Buner, Shangla, Kohistan, Haripur, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Peshawar, Charsadda, Swabi, Mardan, Kohat and Kurram from Monday to Wednesday.

The downpour may generate urban/flash flooding and land sliding in vulnerable areas from Monday to Tuesday. Flows are also expected to increase significantly in rivers, streams and local nullahs.