The Ferozepur, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, and Jalandhar districts are already dealing with overflowing rivers and steeply increasing water levels.Below-average showers in Punjab today are aggravating already increasing flood levels, particularly in Ferozepur.
Torrential rains have inundated neighboring Himachal Pradesh for days, prompting operators of the Pong and Bhakra dams to release huge amounts of water. Downstream, swollen rivers in Punjab have burst their banks and low-lying small villages are already submerged in all six districts.
State governments at every level are trying to monitor and contain the crisis. Warning has now been issued officially in all the six affected districts. Rainwaters are now flowing through the main as well as side channels in Ferozepur, Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, and Jalandhar; entire fields of crops and parts of many residential blocks, now partially submerged. It has been called on by all individuals in these vulnerable communities to remain vigilant and obey local instruction, as swelling rivers and the added runoff create harsh and sudden dangers.
Tuesday afternoon was shattered by the rumble of hydraulic equipment: four steel gates of the Bhakra dam swung open, releasing a roar that within moments swelled into thundering torrent. Some 45,000 cubic feet of water flowed through each second, strong enough to level a dorp. Half this amount the Sutlej river, itself braided with silt. The released the river once again.
The flap of hydraulic gates seemed to be on the verge of being torn and opened as wide as two feet, but Deputy Commissioner Varinder Walia confirmed that the level of water is still comfortably under the danger mark. To the public at large, it's still a tolerable situation, but a mental note of prudence is the best life jacket anyone can sport at present.
The forecast shattered the previous calm fence. Officials had originally marked the 23rd for the initial drumming, but today the sky clicked into a drumming mode. The department now pushes the limits of its neat printed briefing: Pathankot, Hoshiarpur, Rupnagar, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Fatehgarh Sahib, and Patiala will go into a back and forth of light to moderate rain, the sort that just saturates roads. From the 23rd, expect weight, the heavy cargo; a yellow badge is stuck on the jacket of the sky. The window of relief is now timed in less than a day; the clouds may very well hang chatter until the 25th.
Temperatures rise in the midst of rain
Temperature rose by 2.4 degrees over the last 24 hours, nearly to normal levels for the season.
