GILGIT/ ISLAMABAD - The heavy flow of water and high flood in Shishper Glacier severely damaged RCC Bridge on Karakorum Highway at Hassanabad in Hunza on Saturday.
Deputy Commissioner Hunza Usman Ali said that emergency steps were being taken after the Shishper glacier lake outburst in Hunza. Talking to reporters he said an alternate steel suspension bridge would be installed in Hassanabad to ensure traffic flow on KKH. He said the traffic was temporarily diverted to SAS valley in order to facilitate the travellers.
Shishper glacier lake outburst flood damaged KKH in Hassanabad, Hunza. Hunza Administration diverted the traffic to SAS Valley, Nagar in order to avoid any untoward situation.
On the other hand, the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Saturday warned that the temperature in the province may rise by several degrees during the next week, triggering a heat wave.
In an advisory issued on Saturday, the Authority said that high pressure was likely to grip upper atmosphere from Sunday. Due to this high-pressure day temperatures were likely to increase gradually in most parts of the country from Sunday. Day Temperature are likely to remain 07-09 degrees above normal in upper Punjab while Day Temperatures are likely to remain 06-08 degrees above normal in Central and South Punjab.
A massive glacial lake outburst flood on Saturday occurred in Hunza District’s Hassanabad Village after the glacial lake formed over Shisper Glacier started receding 5,000 Cusecs water while initiating the glacial melting prior to the normal duration.
Remote Sensing Specialist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Dr Sher Mohammad told APP that the glacial lake size was 15 percent more than the recorded lake size for the past three years at the pre-outburst level of the glacial lake.
| Glacial lake formed over Shisper Glacier bursts prior to normal duration
PDMA issues heatwave alerts for Punjab, Sindh during next week
Mohammad said the massive Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in Hunza from Shishpar glacier was mainly triggered due to abrupt temperature rise in the Northern Areas due to the prevailing heatwave phenomenon.
He said the glaciers were melting at a faster pace mainly due to heatwave, adding, “in the past 20 days, there has been 40 percent increase in the Shisper glacier lake area due to expedited glacier melting after heatwave impacts gripped the Northern Areas as mostly glacial lakes are formed in May but it got developed one month ahead in April”.
“Not only are glacial lakes rapidly forming in them, but they are also appearing ahead of their normal time and bursting into floods”, he added.
Dr. Sher Mohammad in his research has revealed that lakes on at least five glaciers appeared prematurely in the month of April and some of them have erupted where the water was running faster than usual.
“We have been able to record only five glacial lakes due to continuous clouds, which are increasing but the number could be much higher.”
He underscored that there were supraglacial lakes formed over vulnerable glaciers after rapid increase in temperatures and could become a lurking threat in the coming days as more increase in temperature would drive glacial flooding further.
He said satellite reports and images of the five glacier lakes could indicate that other glaciers in the area could also pose a threat to the lakes.
“This is not usually the case in April and glaciers and lakes are recorded in the month of June or later, but temperatures above five degrees Celsius can cause a number of natural disasters”, he warned.
Gilgit Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunhwa Disaster Management Authorities were informed in time to take preventive measures to cope with imminent threat of GLOF in the region.
However, the Hunza district administration officials while talking in time disaster preparedness measures relocated the local masses from the vulnerable sites to safer and were not facing any threat due to GLOF.
The Gilgit Baltistan district administration officials informed that the glacial lake achieved flooding status at 7:00am on Saturday morning.
As per the PDMA advisory, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has informed that the temperature in the province to increase gradually in most parts of the country from Sunday.
The PDMA urged Deputy Commissioners of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Sialkot, Bhakkar, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhang and Layyah to issue an alert for people.
“All relevant line agencies must also be put on alert for swift response in case of emergency,” it said.
The PDMA issued advisory to the Deputy Commissioners, saying that heat wave conditions were likely during the next week owing to persistent high pressure in the upper atmosphere, and day temperatures are likely to stay exceptionally high in most areas of the province.
It warned that the extreme weather could cause water stress to the standing crops, vegetables, and orchards.
Deputy Commissioner Hunza Usman Ali said that emergency steps were being taken after the Shishper glacier lake outburst in Hunza. Talking to reporters he said an alternate steel suspension bridge would be installed in Hassanabad to ensure traffic flow on KKH. He said the traffic was temporarily diverted to SAS valley in order to facilitate the travellers.
Shishper glacier lake outburst flood damaged KKH in Hassanabad, Hunza. Hunza Administration diverted the traffic to SAS Valley, Nagar in order to avoid any untoward situation.
On the other hand, the Punjab Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Saturday warned that the temperature in the province may rise by several degrees during the next week, triggering a heat wave.
In an advisory issued on Saturday, the Authority said that high pressure was likely to grip upper atmosphere from Sunday. Due to this high-pressure day temperatures were likely to increase gradually in most parts of the country from Sunday. Day Temperature are likely to remain 07-09 degrees above normal in upper Punjab while Day Temperatures are likely to remain 06-08 degrees above normal in Central and South Punjab.
A massive glacial lake outburst flood on Saturday occurred in Hunza District’s Hassanabad Village after the glacial lake formed over Shisper Glacier started receding 5,000 Cusecs water while initiating the glacial melting prior to the normal duration.
Remote Sensing Specialist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Dr Sher Mohammad told APP that the glacial lake size was 15 percent more than the recorded lake size for the past three years at the pre-outburst level of the glacial lake.
| Glacial lake formed over Shisper Glacier bursts prior to normal duration
PDMA issues heatwave alerts for Punjab, Sindh during next week
Mohammad said the massive Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in Hunza from Shishpar glacier was mainly triggered due to abrupt temperature rise in the Northern Areas due to the prevailing heatwave phenomenon.
He said the glaciers were melting at a faster pace mainly due to heatwave, adding, “in the past 20 days, there has been 40 percent increase in the Shisper glacier lake area due to expedited glacier melting after heatwave impacts gripped the Northern Areas as mostly glacial lakes are formed in May but it got developed one month ahead in April”.
“Not only are glacial lakes rapidly forming in them, but they are also appearing ahead of their normal time and bursting into floods”, he added.
Dr. Sher Mohammad in his research has revealed that lakes on at least five glaciers appeared prematurely in the month of April and some of them have erupted where the water was running faster than usual.
“We have been able to record only five glacial lakes due to continuous clouds, which are increasing but the number could be much higher.”
He underscored that there were supraglacial lakes formed over vulnerable glaciers after rapid increase in temperatures and could become a lurking threat in the coming days as more increase in temperature would drive glacial flooding further.
He said satellite reports and images of the five glacier lakes could indicate that other glaciers in the area could also pose a threat to the lakes.
“This is not usually the case in April and glaciers and lakes are recorded in the month of June or later, but temperatures above five degrees Celsius can cause a number of natural disasters”, he warned.
Gilgit Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunhwa Disaster Management Authorities were informed in time to take preventive measures to cope with imminent threat of GLOF in the region.
However, the Hunza district administration officials while talking in time disaster preparedness measures relocated the local masses from the vulnerable sites to safer and were not facing any threat due to GLOF.
The Gilgit Baltistan district administration officials informed that the glacial lake achieved flooding status at 7:00am on Saturday morning.
As per the PDMA advisory, the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) has informed that the temperature in the province to increase gradually in most parts of the country from Sunday.
The PDMA urged Deputy Commissioners of Lahore, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Multan, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Sialkot, Bhakkar, Bahawalnagar, Dera Ghazi Khan, Jhang and Layyah to issue an alert for people.
“All relevant line agencies must also be put on alert for swift response in case of emergency,” it said.
The PDMA issued advisory to the Deputy Commissioners, saying that heat wave conditions were likely during the next week owing to persistent high pressure in the upper atmosphere, and day temperatures are likely to stay exceptionally high in most areas of the province.
It warned that the extreme weather could cause water stress to the standing crops, vegetables, and orchards.
