Flood risk high along Indus River

The provincial relief department of Pakistan's North West Frontier Province (NWFP) has called on residents living in low-lying areas along the Indus River in the southern district of Dera Ismail Khan, to immediately evacuate the area to safer places as water levels continue to rise. People living along the Indus, Kabul and Swat rivers have been told to stay away from riverbanks and shift to relief camps set up by the government, according to a press statement from the Flood Warning Centre (FWC) in NWFP's provincial capital, Peshawar, issued on Thursday. Increased snowmelt in the high passes where the rivers originate, combined with high monsoon rainfall, mean river flows are excessively high, according to local meteorologists. "Almost all the seasonal rivers in the province have been in high flow for the last week. At this time, any cloudburst or heavy monsoon spell may well lead to serious flooding, so people along the rivers should consult their district authorities before returning home," said Abd-ul-Wali Yousafzai, head of the FWC. There has already been damage to property along the River Chitral, that runs north to south parallel with the Afghan border. "Due to a sudden rise of water in the River Chitral, several villages along the riverbank have been damaged. Standing crops in the said villages have been badly affected," Thursday's daily situation report from NWFP's provincial relief cell, said. According to the Focus Humanitarian Group, an NGO working in NWFP, some 250 households in a remote valley have been cut off from Chitral town due to damage to a bridge. NWFP's relief department said at least 13 people have been killed so far in flood related incidents across the province in 2005. More than 1,000 houses have been demolished in floods and more than 1,800 have been partially damaged across six districts: Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, Swat, Chitral and Shangla.