ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Chief Meteorologist Sardar Sarfaraz said on Friday the country was experiencing the monsoon season’s last spell caused by a combination of the westerly and easterly waves lashing different areas with heavy rainfall.
Earlier this week, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) warned of heavy rains from September 26 to October 1, saying they were likely to trigger floods in Punjab’s urban areas apart from the Peshawar city of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
The NDMA also warned the public and local authorities to take precautionary steps to save lives.
“This is the last spell of the monsoon spell,” Sarfaraz said while speaking to Pakistan’s Geo TV. “We can say it’s a combination. The westerly wave has approached from the north and Easterly waves deflected currents from the foot of Himalaya going through the Bay of Bengal.”
He said any kind of rain until September 30 will be counted as monsoon rains, adding that no further downpour would take place after that.
“You know October, November and December are dry months in Pakistan,” he said. “The trend of the next rains in the next three months is below average.”
Torrential monsoon rains from July 1 till about the first week of this month have killed 347 people, including 175 children and 54 women, across the country, as per the NDMA data.
Global organizations, such as the United Nations, see Pakistan as among the countries most vulnerable to extreme weather patterns and climate change, with floods wreaking havoc in 2022, killing more than 1,700 people and displacing millions.
Scientists also attribute the country’s erratic weather changes on climate change effects. This year, the South Asian state recorded its “wettest April since 1961,” with 59.3 millimeters of rainfall, while some areas of the country faced deadly heatwaves in May and June.
Pakistan experiencing final spell of monsoon this year – chief meteorologist
https://arab.news/w4ep3
Pakistan experiencing final spell of monsoon this year – chief meteorologist
- Sardar Sarfaraz says no new monsoon rains are likely to lash the country after October begins
- Torrential monsoon rains have killed 347 people from July 1 until the first week of September
Death toll in Pakistan wedding suicide blast rises to six
- Attack targeted members of local peace committee in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Dera Ismail Khan
- Peace committees are community-based groups that report militant activity to security forces
PESHAWAR: The death toll from a suicide bombing at a wedding ceremony in northwestern Pakistan rose to six, police said on Saturday, after funeral prayers were held for those killed in the attack a day earlier.
The bomber detonated explosives during a wedding gathering in the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, injuring more than a dozen, some of them critically.
“The death toll has surged to six,” said Nawab Khan, Superintendent of Police for Saddar Dera Ismail Khan. “Police have completed the formalities and registered the case against unidentified attackers.”
“It was a suicide attack and the Counter Terrorism Department will further investigate the case,” he continued, adding that security had been stepped up across the district to prevent further incidents.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the blast so far.
Khan cautioned against speculation, citing ongoing militancy in the area, and said the investigation was being treated with “utmost seriousness.”
The explosion targeted the home of a member of a local peace committee, which is part of community-based groups that cooperate with security forces and whose members have frequently been targeted by militants in the past.
Some media reports also cited a death toll of seven, quoting police authorities.
Emergency officials said several of the wounded were taken to hospital soon after the blast.
Militant attacks have intensified in parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa since the Taliban returned to power in neighboring Afghanistan in 2021, with Islamabad accusing Afghan authorities of “facilitating” cross-border assaults, a charge Kabul denies.
