Flooding at a hydroelectric dam in India’s northeastern Himalayas has killed at least 31 people, authorities announced, adding that freezing water continues to ravage cities, forcing thousands to flee their homes.
The flooding began shortly after midnight on Wednesday, when a glacial lake high in the mountains overflowed after heavy rain. The force of the water caused a six-year-old dam, the largest in the Indian state of Sikkim, to fail and then cascade towards towns in the Lachan Valley.
This was the latest deadly flood to hit northeastern India in a year of unusually strong monsoons. Nearly 50 people died in flash floods and landslides in August in the neighboring state of Himachal Pradesh and record rains in July killed more than 100 people in two weeks in the north of the country.
A 2019 Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority report identified Lake Lhonak as “highly vulnerable” to flooding, which could cause significant damage to lives and property in downstream areas, warning of the risk of flash floods that They could break the dams.
The design and location of the Teesta-3 dam were controversial from the time of its construction, as part of an effort by the Indian government to expand hydroelectric power.
Local activists have argued that extreme weather caused by climate change makes building dams in the Himalayas too dangerous.
A 2021 study by researchers from India, the United States and Switzerland warned that the dam posed an increasing risk of catastrophic flooding as a warming climate causes the glaciers that feed it to melt more quickly.
“Despite being the largest project in the state, there were no early warning systems even though the risk of overflow was known,” said Himanshu Thakkar of the non-governmental organization South Asia Network of Rivers, Dams and People.
According to a statement from India’s National Disaster Management Agency, authorities plan to establish early warning systems for real-time warnings in most of India’s 56 at-risk glacial lakes.
In 2021, the Indian federal government passed a dam safety law requiring operators and local governments to prepare for emergency situations, but the Teesta-3 dam is not listed as being monitored for safety by India’s top dam regulator. India, Central Water Commission.
It was unclear what caused Wednesday’s rupture, but experts and several government reports pointed to sudden, heavy rain in the area and a 6.2 magnitude earthquake that shook neighboring Nepal on Tuesday afternoon.
In February 2021, an avalanche of water and mud caused by a glacier burst left at least 45 dead and around 160 missing in the Chamoli district of the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.
Every year, heavy rains cause significant human and material losses in South Asian countries, especially during the monsoon period between May and September.
Source: TSF
