Peshawar    -   While floods often cause much damage in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and other parts of the country in monsoon season, the government needs to focus upgrading the Meteorological Department to cope with such emergencies as the ongoing situation has highlighted its important role.

The government has already established Provincial Disaster Management Authority for damage control and relief operations in emergency situations, while other line departments also play their role in such circumstances. However, the Met Office has so far received little attention from the government in terms of facilities and upgradation.

An official told The Nation that currently, observatories of the Met Department exist in 17 districts of the province but that it should be set up in all districts. An observatory is aimed at forecasting rain and possible flood in an area and it can also inform relevant departments of the possible emergency situation.

Also, an observatory helps check the authenticity and accuracy of a weather forecast in any area.

“It’s not necessary that only a district having a river should have an observatory, because an observatory is even needed in a district where there may not be any river. The observatory helps forecast floods and related issues, whether a major water channel exists in a district or not,” he added.

Also, the official said that while eastern rivers are monitored through the Lahore office of Met Department, there is little data available regarding forecast on western rivers (Swat, Kabul rivers, etc). Meanwhile, this correspondent browsed KP’s regional meteorological centre website but it was not operational, while the web pages of all other provinces were available.

The new spell of rains also started in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday. The new spell has also panicked people in certain areas, which have recently been hit by floods as they are still trying to cope with the post-flood situation that is yet to return to normality, particularly some villages of Nowshera and Charsadda districts.

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) said that rains may flood nullahs in rural areas and also cause floods in urban areas, which is why district administrations were asked to take precautionary measures.

The PDMA said that 289 people have died and 348 were wounded as a result of rain and flood related incidents across the province since June 15. According to statistics shared by the PDMA, 35,123 houses were completely damaged while 52,327 houses were partially damaged across the province.

The PDMA, district administrations and other relevant departments evacuated 406,568 people to safer places before the floods while 69,775 people were rescued through rescue operation in different districts. The floods also displaced around 674,348 people. Relief items provided to 226,389 people so far as well as cooked food provided to 856,782 people and 217,614 people have been provided dry food.

Meanwhile, Met Department Deputy Director Fahim Khan said that his department is concerned with analysing situation above the ground, ie air. However, when a flood hits a region, different departments including PDMA, Wapda, Irrigation and Met Office, get involved in the operation. He said the Met office has been on alert in the ongoing monsoon.