Assam and Arunachal Pradesh are set to face a major disaster as the barrier lake which was formed on the Yarlung Tsangpo has breached on Friday afternoon, and Siang and Brahmaputra rivers are expected to face huge water flow during the next couple of hours.
Officials of Water Resources Department of Arunachal Pradesh told Northeast Now on Friday evening from Pasighat that as per report from Tibet, the barrier lake breached on Friday at 2.30 pm Indian Standard Times.
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The first rush of water is likely to reach Tuting in Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh at 10.30 pm on Friday, and is moving downstream with a volume of 80,000 cu metres per second. “This is going to be huge flow of water into our river systems,” the officials said.
The rush of water is likely to reach Pasighat, the headquarters of East Siang district at around 2 am, and may hit Dibrugarh at around 4 am, the officials of the Water Resources Department of Arunachal Pradesh said.
The barrier lake was created on Wednesday morning following the collapse of a cliff in the deep valley through which the river flows. The cause of the landslide is believed to be natural, and there was no report of any earthquake in the area in the recent past.
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According to reports from Tibet, the blockade was 3,500 metre in length and 2,500 metre in wide at the widest point, and was 17 kms downstream of Nexia Hydrological Station in Tibet.
The Chinese administration on Thursday had also evacuated around 6,000 people from a village in the Menling County as 700 million cubic metres of water was stuck up in the barrier lake, the officials informed.
Debang Tayeng, executive engineer of the Water Resource Department of Arunachal Pradesh in Panging division, is camping at Pasighat, and is monitoring the situation round the clock.
“We are not in a situation to assess the probable devastation at this stage,” Tayeng said, adding that the blockade at Yarlung Tsangpo this time is much bigger than the 2008 incident, and the volume of water is also much higher.
Meanwhile, following high alert of floods due to massive landslide in Tibet, around 210 to 220 households in Sixty Five area, 17 km from Pasighat in East Siang district and 65 km from Along in Arunachal Pradesh, have been evacuated by the district administration on Friday.