Bihar floods: 6 areas cross ‘danger' mark, more at ‘warning' level
The water level in the Ganga did not surge suddenly. As per the hydrograph by the CWC, at Gandhi Ghat, the water level rose by 50 centimetres in just three days. Similar trends were observed at the Kahalgaon station in Bhagalpur district, where the water level increased by 30 cm, and at Kursela station in Katihar district, where a rise of 28 cm was reported. These trends show a surge in water levels, which can lead to a high flood level.Satellite images show that around 15 per cent of the Patna district is flooded. In Bhagalpur, the affected area is slightly higher at 15.7 per cent. Begusarai has about 6.4 per cent of its land underwater, while in Khagaria, 8.5 per cent of the area is currently flooded.In many areas, roads have submerged, villages have flooded, and daily life has been hampered. River overflow has washed away over 50 homes in Bhojpur's Jawaniya village, while students in Khagaria are using boats to reach school. The state government has deployed Water Resources Department engineers and the State Disaster Response Force to tackle the situation.But what makes the situation more tense is the ongoing rainfall in Nepal and other upstream regions, which may increase the load of the river and worsen floods soon.- EndsTune InMust Watch
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Indian Express
6 hours ago
- Indian Express
In Uttarkashi, the cost of climate denial: When science is silenced, disasters speak
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The trees arrest the avalanches and their roots stabilise the slopes. Several cirques or 'hanging glaciers' – hollowed glacial ledges full of rocks, boulders and other debris left behind by receding glaciers in the past – dot the crests of the slopes. Five or six small streams emerge from these cirques and rush down the slopes. These streams can create havoc during periods of intense summer monsoon rains. Rising temperatures on the high crests melt the winter snows that quickly form massive avalanches, along with ice, rain water and the glacial moraines, as they rush down the stream valleys. The recent catastrophes were due to three such avalanches, all within 2.5 hours, Juyal explained. In 2012, the Union government had notified the Gaumukh to Uttarkashi watershed of the Bhagirathi as an Eco-Sensitive Zone (BESZ). This was to preserve its pristine areas and regulate infrastructural activities in the region. Later central and state governments, however, have been lax in enforcing the regulations, despite the strenuous efforts by some members of an MoEF&CC appointed monitoring committee. With the governments ignoring the BESZ notification, the Union Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) prepared plans to widen the National Highway in the BESZ to accommodate Gangotri's summer tourist traffic. In 2020, Juyal, as a member of the Supreme Court directed High Powered Committee (HPC) to investigate the construction of the Char Dham highway, warned his committee colleagues, BRO engineers and senior Uttarakhand and central government officials of the high probability of repeated future avalanches due to global warming and climate changes. In 2020, in its final report to the Supreme Court, the HPC recommended that the sensitive slopes not be disturbed. 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They have pointed out that HEPs should not be built in para-glacial regions, human settlements and built structures be located at safe distances from flood-prone rivers, particularly small mountain streams that can suddenly turn treacherous, road widening along slopes steeper than 30 degrees should be avoided, and that carrying-capacity studies are desperately needed in the Himalayan towns and cities. Senior government officials pay lip service to these recommendations but do nothing to implement them. The warning bells of the Kedarnath tragedy (2013), destruction of the Tapovan-Vishnugad hydro-electric project by the Raunthi Gad avalanche (2021), fissures in the ground and buildings in Joshimath (2023), glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in the Teesta valley (2023) and the repeated monsoonal landslides and floods in Himachal Pradesh are ignored by decision-makers in their headlong drive to push unsustainable infrastructure development in ecologically and geologically sensitive areas. As the saying goes, 'You can't wake a person who is pretending to be asleep.' It is long past time for Indian citizens, bewitched by images of rapid economic growth, real for some but dreams for many, to wake up to the warning bells of climate change and demand safer, sustainable and equitable economic growth. Recognising and respecting nature's boundaries is our safest, most logical route to survival and economic development. The writer is a former director of the People's Science Institute, Dehradun. He headed two Supreme Court nominated committees to investigate the Kedarnath flood (2013) and the Char Dham Pariyojana (2019-2022)
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Hindustan Times
2 days ago
- Hindustan Times
Day after flash floods, Uttarakhand rivers above danger mark amid heavy rain
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