KARACHI   -   Sindh Chief Minister (CM) Syed Murad Ali Shah, in response to the Met Office forecast of above-average rains, instructed PDMA, irrigation and other relevant departments to develop a contingency plan to manage anticipated riverine floods.

“I want proper coordination between all the concerned departments and agencies, including law enforcement and the Pak Navy so that timely action can be taken in case of any emergency,” he said in a meeting held here on Monday.

The meeting was attended by several provincial ministers including Sardar Shah, Saeed Ghani, Muhammad Bux Khan Mahar, Jam Khan Shoro, Makhdoom Mahboob, Chief Secretary Asif Hyder Shah, various department secretaries, Mayor Sukkur Nauman Shaikh, DG PDA Salman Shah, Chief Met Dr Sarfraz, a representative from COMKAR, and commissioners of different divisions via video link.

Dr Sarfraz from the Met Office explained to the CM that the monsoon typically begins in Pakistan on July 1 and continues until mid-September. He outlined various factors influencing monsoon rains in Pakistan, such as Sea Surface Temperatures (SST of Pacific and Indian Oceans), Sub Tropical High/Tibetan High (STH/TH), Tropical Easterly Jet (TEJ), Heat Low-pressure area, Low-level Jet (LLJ), Madden Julian Oscillation (MJO), and Indian Ocean High (IOH) pressure area. He also mentioned that the differential heating of land and adjoining oceans causes Low-pressure formation over land and high-pressure over the ocean.

The Copernicus climate change service’s multi-model ensemble forecast for July to September indicates wetter-than-average precipitation with a 60-70 percent probability, and WMO multi-model predicts a wetter-than-average June to September 2024 season with a 60-70 percent probability over Sindh. On July 8, at the CM House in Karachi, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, in response to the Met Office forecast of above-average rains, instructed the Irrigation Department to develop a contingency plan to manage anticipated Riverine floods.