ISLAMABAD: A rain emergency has been declared in Islamabad and Rawalpindi after heavy overnight downpours inundated several areas. The rain started in the Twin Cities on Tuesday night and continued till Wednesday morning.
Local authorities have placed all relevant departments on high alert, with continuous monitoring of rivers and canals, including Nala Lai, to prevent potential disasters.
According to the Managing Director of WASA, water levels in Nala Lai have risen to 8 feet at Katarian and 7 feet in Gowalmandi. The twin cities recorded more than 80mm of rainfall in Shamsabad and 55mm in Katarian.
Heavy rains have also caused rivers and canals to overflow in Azad Kashmir, while intermittent showers continue in Peshawar, Swabi, Mardan, Kaghan Valley, Balakot, and Batkhela. Light rain was also reported in various parts of Lahore, bringing pleasant weather.
The Met Office has forecast rainfall today in Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Kashmir, and Gilgit-Baltistan. Coastal areas of Sindh are expected to remain partly cloudy with the possibility of light rain.
Authorities have urged citizens to stay away from rivers and canals and to contact rescue agencies immediately in case of emergencies.
A Massive Earthquake triggers Tsunami alerts
A powerful 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday, the strongest in the region since 1952. The quake damaged buildings, injured several people, and triggered a tsunami with waves up to 4 metres (13 ft), prompting widespread evacuations and tsunami warnings across the Pacific.
The earthquake struck at 8:24 am local time (4 am PKT) near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000, at a shallow depth of 19.3 km, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). It ranks among the 10 largest quakes ever recorded.
Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov described the event as “the strongest in decades,” urging residents to remain alert. Regional emergency officials confirmed a 3–4 metre tsunami hit parts of Kamchatka, flooding the port town of Severo-Kurilsk and damaging a fish processing plant. Authorities evacuated all residents in time, averting casualties.
Several people sustained injuries while fleeing buildings, including one individual who jumped from a window, officials said. A kindergarten and the region’s new airport terminal were among the structures damaged. Fortunately, no fatalities have been reported, and all injured are in stable condition.
The Sakhalin region’s authorities declared a state of emergency in the northern Kuril Islands. Thirty aftershocks—some as strong as magnitude 7.5—were recorded following the main tremor.
Tsunami alerts across Japan and the Pacific
Japan’s weather agency issued tsunami warnings for its eastern coast, predicting waves up to 3 metres (10 ft). Evacuations were ordered in coastal towns, and images from NHK showed residents seeking shelter on rooftops in Hokkaido. Authorities reported no damage or irregularities at nuclear plants, including the Fukushima facility.
The US Tsunami Warning System also issued alerts for multiple Pacific nations. It warned of potentially “hazardous tsunami waves” exceeding 3 metres in Russia and Ecuador, and waves of 1–3 metres in Japan, Hawaii, Costa Rica, French Polynesia, Guam, Chile, and the Solomon Islands. Smaller waves could reach coastlines from Australia and New Zealand to the US West Coast.
