Flood Early Warning System
Pakistan's national end-to-end flood monitoring, forecasting, and warning platform operated by the Flood Forecasting Division, PMD.
Mission: To protect lives and livelihoods across Pakistan by providing timely, accurate, and actionable flood warnings — integrating state-of-the-art observational networks, numerical weather prediction, and hydrological modelling to give communities and authorities the maximum possible lead time before flood events.
How the EWS Works
Data Collection
Real-time data streams from a nationwide network of automatic weather stations, manned observatories, WAPDA telemetric gauges, Doppler radars, and satellite feeds.
- Automatic Weather Stations (AWS)
- Manned synoptic observatories
- Telemetric discharge stations
- Doppler weather radars
- Satellite rainfall estimates
Forecasting & Modelling
Observed data feeds into an ensemble of Numerical Weather Prediction and hydrological models to generate quantitative flood forecasts at multiple time horizons.
- NWP model runs (ICON, WRF, GFS, ECMWF)
- Flash-flood guidance (FFGS / PARFFGS)
- Hydrological routing (FEWS, IFAS, HEC-RAS)
- Reservoir inflow forecasting
- Ensemble uncertainty quantification
Warning & Dissemination
Forecasters issue calibrated warning products to the full emergency management chain — from national to district level — through multiple communication channels.
- Bulletins A, B, C & Advisories
- NDMA & PDMAs direct brief
- Electronic & print media release
- FFD website & email alerts
- SMS / WhatsApp dissemination
Observational Network
FFD operates and utilises the following ground-truth observation infrastructure across Pakistan:
Forecasting Models
Numerical Weather Prediction
Hydrological Models
Forecast Lead Times
FFD issues warnings across four operational forecast horizons, enabling both immediate response and advance preparedness planning.
Now-casting
0 – 6 hours
Radar QPE + AWS real-time alerts
Short Range
1 – 3 days
NWP + FFGS flash-flood guidance
Medium Range
4 – 7 days
Ensemble NWP + hydrological routing
Seasonal Outlook
1 – 3 months
Rabi / Kharif seasonal forecasts
Warning Products
- Synoptic situation summary
- Rainfall analysis & rainfall forecasts
- Temperature and wind outlook
- Monsoon progress & activity level
- River flows at key gauging stations
- Reservoir inflows, levels & storage
- Flood status per river reach
- 72-hour hydrological forecast
- Issued when High or above flood status
- Site-specific discharge projections
- Threatened areas & timeline
- Recommended actions for PDMAs
- Extreme weather & flash flood advisories
- Urban flooding alerts
- Depression and cyclone advisories
- Public communication language
- 7-day extended forecast narrative
- Regional rainfall probability
- River trend outlook
- Issued every Sunday
Flood Warning Levels
River conditions are classified into six levels based on observed discharge thresholds at each gauging site:
Dissemination & Infrastructure
Warning Recipients
- National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)
- Provincial Disaster Management Authorities (PDMAs)
- District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs)
- Federal & Provincial Government Ministries
- WAPDA / IRSA for reservoir operations
- Electronic & Print Media
- FFD Website & Email Alert Subscribers
- SMS & WhatsApp Emergency Channels
World Bank Infrastructure Upgrade
International Partners & Collaborators
Pakistan's national flood EWS is built and sustained through partnerships with leading international meteorological, hydrological, and development organisations: