PESHAWAR: Theft and vandalism of critical components from flood early warning systems installed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s upper regions have raised serious concerns among experts, potentially undermining efforts to provide timely alerts ahead of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) and flash floods.
According to the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), several monitoring stations installed in valleys including Kumrat and Manial have stopped transmitting data, affecting the region’s flood forecasting capabilities.
Regional Meteorological Centre Peshawar Deputy Director Dr. Muhammad Faheem said the early warning network was established with the support of the United Nations and the Green Climate Fund to continuously monitor vulnerable glacial areas.
Under the project, around 85 modern monitoring devices were installed across eight valleys, including automatic weather stations, rainfall gauges, water-level sensors, and other advanced equipment.
He explained that while some equipment was damaged by floods and harsh weather conditions, several stations suffered theft of batteries, solar panels, sensors, and other valuable components.
As a result, at least 14 monitoring stations have been affected and have ceased transmitting critical data.
Dr. Faheem noted that the imported equipment is highly sophisticated and expensive, with the cost of a single automatic monitoring station ranging between Rs5 million and Rs7 million or more.
However, he stressed that the true value of the system lies in its ability to protect lives by providing advance warnings to communities at risk of flooding.
The Meteorological Department has registered an FIR regarding the incidents, while the provincial government and local administration are monitoring the situation.
Despite the losses, officials said that 58 of the 85 installed devices remain operational and continue to provide data used for issuing weather and flood warnings across the region.
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