(Fixes dateline)
By Asif Shahzad and Krishna N. Das
ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) -India on Wednesday opened all gates of major dams on rivers in its part of the Kashmir region following heavy rains, and warned neighbouring Pakistan of the possibility of downstream flooding, an Indian government source said.
Pakistan said Islamabad received the warning, and subsequently issued an alert for flooding on three rivers which flow into the country from India.
Arch-rivals India and Pakistan have been ravaged by intense monsoon rains and flooding in recent weeks.
Pakistan’s heartland province of Punjab faces an “exceptionally high” risk of flooding due to a combination of heavy rains and the excess water India is releasing from the dams, which then flows across the border, according to Pakistani officials. Pakistani Punjab serves as the country’s breadbasket and is home to half of its 240 million people.
An Indian source said that some 200,000 cusecs of water is likely to be released. A cusec is a volume equivalent to one cubic foot, or 28 cubic litres, per second. It was unclear whether the Indian water release would be a one-off event or would be carried out in stages.
A Pakistani disaster management official had warned on Tuesday that India would be releasing controlled volumes of water in coming days.
Pakistan says New Delhi had passed on two earlier flood warnings since Sunday.
The nuclear-armed nations have been in a tense stand-off since a brief conflict in May, their worst fighting in decades, and any flooding in Pakistan blamed on India could inflame ties.
India routinely releases water from its dams when they get too full, with the excess flowing into Pakistan, as the two nations share rivers.
Pakistani authorities on Wednesday called in army troops to help rescue people from already flooded areas in the Punjab province, and for relief and evacuation efforts. Pakistan began forced evacuations due to floods on Friday.
The number of displaced people in Pakistani Punjab due to flooding now exceeds 167,000, including nearly 40,000 people who left voluntarily following flood warnings since August 14.
The death toll from flooding in Pakistan since the start of the monsoon season in late June now stands at 802, half of them in this month alone.
Punjab province was divided between the two countries when they gained independence in 1947.
(Reporting by Asif Shahzad in Islamabad and Krishna N Das in New Delhi; Editing by Michael Perry)
