Bhakra Dam : Rainfall in HP watersheds can cause more problems
Punjab is on high alert as water inflow into two dams – Pong dam and Bhakr dam has started increasing again, raising their water levels.
As a result, more water was released from the two dams today than yesterday. Schools across the state are closed from today until August 26.
The situation emerged again due to incessant rain in the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh, especially in the catchment area of the two dams. As a result, the water level in Pong Dam again reached its maximum level of 1,390 feet. The dam’s inflow has more than doubled from 58,702 cubic metres yesterday to 1,38,674 cubic metres this evening. This forced authorities to release more water from the dam, partially opening the floodgates. Today, 67,340 cubic metres of water were released, while yesterday, 65,711 cubic metres were released.
Similarly, the water level in Bhakra Dam will approach its maximum level of 1,680 feet – 1,674.18 feet tonight. The dam inflow increased to 1,28,406 cubic metres against yesterday’s 72,835 cubic metres. Bhakra also released more water than yesterday. Compared to the 49,500 monthly checks issued yesterday, 58,400 monthly checks were issued today, which is an increase of almost 9,000 monthly checks.
Senior officials of the state’s irrigation department say that if rain continues in the catchment area of the dams, Punjab may again face difficulties as the Pong dam and Bhakra dam release more water.
This led to high water levels in both the Sutlej and the Bea. Sutlej water level continued to remain high at Harike for 1,42,766 months and at Hussainiwala for 1,33,224 months. Beade also saw continued high water levels of 1,37,200 saps in Hoshiarpur (Passi) and 1,36,000 saps in Kapurthala (Dhilwan).
In Punjab, nine districts of Amritsar, Ferozepur, Fatehgarh Sahib, Fazilka, Gurdaspur, Moga, Patiala, Ropar and Tarn Taran were lashed by continuous rain today. The flood situation remained grim in Fazilka, where a body of a missing person was found today, and six more villages were affected by flood waters, making the total number of villages to 45.
According to reports, 72 houses were damaged in Gurdaspur, Ropar. , Amritsar, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib. The civil and police administration also continued to evacuate the helpless people and 176 people were evacuated from Ferozepur and Fazilka.
