Guwahati: With reports of breach in artificial lake created on the stream of Yarlung Tsangpo river in China, several districts of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam have been put on high alert.
Informing that NDRF team is on standby to help the people in East Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, the disaster management department of Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday said, “About 18,000 cubic metre of water is flowing every second from the artificial lake created on Tsangpo after the landslide. In case of a breach the flow of water may escalate many times. As a result, the water level of river Siang in Arunachal Pradesh is likely to rise suddenly on Saturday.”
After an alert message from external affairs ministry, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal has also directed authorities in districts bordering Arunachal Pradesh to “remain on high alert” for a possible flash flood along the Brahmaputra river. He directed the authorities in Dhemaji, Dibrugarh, Lakhimpur and Tinsukia districts to take all possible steps to prevent any major catastrophe.
The National Disaster Response Force has also been briefed about the situation. Six NDRF teams from Kolkata are scheduled to arrive in Guwahati on Saturday.
However, authorities in Aruncahl Pradesh said that they are getting update of the situation every hour from China and keeping close watch on the situation.
It is significant that an artificial lake had been formed on the Yarlung Tsangpo on Wednesday after a cliff fell at Milin section of the river, 70 km from Nuxia Hydrological Station in Tibet, around 100 km from the Indian border.
Due to the formation of the lake, water level of the Siang river in Arunachal Pradesh has gone down and has also led to fears of large scale floods if the dam formed by the landslide breaks.
The Yarlung Tsangpo is called Siang once it enters Arunachal Pradesh from Tibet. The same river is known as Brahmaputra after it reaches Assam.
According to Central Water Commission (CWC) in case of a breach at the blockade, the water will rush downstream at the speed of 80,000 cubic metre per second and may cause major damages.
Four districts in Arunachal Pradesh--East Siang, West Siang, Siang, Upper Siang—have been asked to take precautionary measures like alerting people through wide publicity, take evacuation measures in low lying areas, restrain people from venturing to the Siang and undertake constant monitoring.
“The water is likely to reach Tuting (Arunachal Pradesh) in 10-14 hrs (around 12 am-4 am IST) and another 8-10 hours (8 am-10 am) Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh) from the time of overflow over the blockade,” it added.
In 2000, 30 people were killed and nearly 100 went missing in Arunachal Pradesh due to flash floods following breach of a dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo in China.
However, union minister of state home Kiren Rijiju on Saturday said that Chinese government is sharing information with India in advance for managing a possible disaster.
