Opening Rawal Dam spillway likely as Islamabad floods cause mayhem

ISLAMABAD: The administration of Rawal Dam has Wednesday decided to lift the spillway gates as the water reserve has almost reached its limit due to torrential rains that lashed the federal capital overnight with 330-millimetre volume, ARY News reported.

The water reservoir has surged to the 1749-feet mark, touching its maximum capacity of 1752 feet, with the flood-inducing heavy rains today in the district and in the contiguous regions causing the Lai Nullahs and connected sectors in Islamabad to flood with torrential flux.

It is alerted that the limit of the Rawal Dam reserve is 1752-feet and in the past 24-hour period the water level rose by 1.2 feet.

The unprecedented flooding of Islamabad sectors after the cloudburst phenomenon caused heavy pouring of the federal capital has deluged E11 sector. A woman and a minor have reportedly died after flood water packed a basement in the sector, the rescue department has confirmed.

It may be noted that Punjab Chief Minister Sardar Usman Buzdar has alerted today the concerned authorities after heavy rains in Islamabad and Rawalpindi that have caused flooding in the Nullah Lai.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) and other rescue departments have been directed to put relief arrangements in place in case of any eventuality.

The Punjab Chief Minister has directed the rescue departments to immediately drain out the rainwater from the low-lying areas of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.