Flash floods expected in Uttarakhand today, warns Central Water Commission

With heavy rain forecast in Uttarakhand, the Central Water Commission (CWC) has warned of rise in water levels in rivers of the hill state with some areas likely to witness flash floods even as several stations in eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar continued to above danger levels on Thursday.

Due to heavy to very heavy rainfall predicted over Uttarakhand on Friday, there is likelihood of rise in water levels in rivers such as Bhagirathi, Alaknanda, Mandakini, Ganga, Ramganga, Sharda, Sarju etc, it said.

"There is likelihood of flash floods in some of the hill districts in association with cloudburst. Necessary precautions have to be taken for possible landslides and blockages of river flows due to landslides in high ranges of the state. Hence alert may be kept in all hill districts of Uttarakhand," the CWC flood advisory said.

In lower Ganga reaches, downstream of Patna, the river is flowing above danger level at all stations except at Bhagalpur, which is flowing above HFL, with falling trend. Ganga at Bhagalpur is expected to fall below extreme flood situation and forecasted water level by 4 p.m. on Friday is 34.54 m.

Ghaghra river in Barabanki, Ayodhya (Uttar Pradesh) and Siwan (Bihar) districts is flowing above normal with severe flood situations respectively with falling trend and in Ballia district (UP), it is flowing in severe flood situation with rising trend. Rapti is flowing in severe flood situations in Balrampur (UP) with falling trend and in Siddharth Nagar and Gorakhpur districts (UP) with rising trend, the CWC said.

Floods in Bihar

Currently, the Kosi in Supaul, Khagaria and Katihar districts (Bihar), Sone and Punpun in Patna, Bagmati in Sitamarhi, Muzzafarpur, and Darbhanga districts (Bihar), river Gandak in Kushinagar (UP), Gopalganj, Muzaffarpur, and Vaishali (Bihar) districts, Parman in Araria (Bihar), Adhwara in Darbhanga district, Kamla and Kamlabalan in Madhubani district, Burhi Gandak in Purba Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Samastipur, and Khagaria districts, Mahananda in Kishanganj, Purnia, and Katihar districts (Bihar) are flowing in severe flood situations.

Flood situations may exist in the lower reaches of these rivers in the coming days, the CWC said.

Meanwhile, in Brahmaputra and its tributaries in Assam, West Bengal, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya, the IMD has predicted very heavy rainfall in the catchment of Brahmaputra and its tributaries on August 20, hence, alert may be kept in northwest Bengal, Assam, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, and Meghalaya. Alert to be kept in the basins of Champabati, Aie, Gurang, Manas, Teesta, Raidak, Jaldhaka, Rangpochu, Rangit, Torsa, Beki, Pagladiya, Puthimari, Subansiri, Disang, Siang, Simsang, Digaru, and Myntdu rivers and in all other tributaries of Brahmaputra. Alert may be kept in districts Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, and Cooch Behar (West Bengal).

Precautions have to be taken for possible landslides and blockages of river flows due to landslides in hilly Darjeeling and Kalimpong (West Bengal). Brahmaputra main river is flowing in above normal flood situations to severe flood situations in Goalpara, Dhubri, Dibrugarh and Jorhat districts (Assam). Also, tributaries of Brahmaputra namely Beki river in Barpeta district (Assam), Siang river in East Siang (Arunachal Pradesh), Jia-Bharali river in Sonitpur (Assam) and Sankosh river in Murshidabad (West Bengal) are flowing in above normal flood situations to severe flood situations, the CWC advisory said.

AP, Karnataka dams full

Most of the dams in Upper Krishna Basin in the Krishna basin in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka are having very high storages. Hidkal, Almatti, and Tungabhadra Dams are filled to their full capacity while Narayanpur and Bhadra Dams are 98 per cent filled up. Malaprabha Dam on the Malaprabha is filled to 93 per cent of its full capacity. Dams Koyana, Warna, and Veer are also having high storage. "Round the clock watch has to be maintained for proper reservoir operation. Releases from any of these reservoirs may be done as per rule curve and standard operating procedure," the advisory cautioned the dam operators.

For west flowing rivers Tapi and Upper Godavari in Maharashtra and Gujarat, the river catchment located in areas such as Nashik, Palghar (Maharashtra), Valsad and Dangs (Gujarat) is expected to receive good rainfall. Hence alert may be kept in rivers such as Damanganga, Wagh, Upper Godavari, Tapi and its tributaries, the advisory said.