Banbasa dam caused flood in Nepal, Uttar Pradesh

Banbasa dam caused flood in Nepal, Uttar Pradesh

Author(s): Soma Basu @sbasu_in
Date:Jun 28, 2013

Sluice gates were opened on June 22 following unprecedented water build up

Government officials claim that dams contained floods in many areas in Uttarkhand during the recent cloudburst and extreme rain events, and that the devastation would have been much more severe if it were not for these structures. But this was hardly true in the case of Banbasa barrage in Champawat district, bordering Nepal. The sluice gates of the barrage were opened after water upstream of it swelled to unprecedented levels. The flooding caused by sudden release of such large quantity of water submerged villages in Nepal and in Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh where 41 people reportedly died.

Residents of Banwasa say the river Sarda or Kali and Mahakali, as it is known in Uttarakhand and Nepal, started swelling from June 19. Water behind the dam increased to 544,000 cusecs on June 20, which was more than the previous high of 522,000 cusecs in 1934, said Devendra Singh assistant engineer with National Hydroelectrioc Power Corporation (NHPC). The sluice gates were opened because there was a lot of debris which would have damaged the dam. Singh informed that a column of the dam in Bhujela village on no man's land on the border had collapsed in the floods.

For More: http://www.downtoearth.org.in/content/banbasa-dam-caused-flood-nepal-uttar-pradesh

Comment by Anumakonda Jagadeesh

Yet another calamity.