U’khand rescuers face fresh threat after lake formation, say experts
A State Disaster Response Force team was sent to the area on Friday to assess the situation
Authorities on Friday dispatched an eight-member team to inspect a lake that has formed on the Rishiganga river due to the accumulation of debris and threatens ongoing rescue operations after a glacier break triggered an avalanche and deadly floods in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district earlier this week.
Geologists have sounded caution about the lake near the disaster-hit Reni village --- about 6km upstream --- and said water from there could ooze out gradually and pose a risk to teams involved in rescue and search operations downstream. Satellite images have confirmed the formation of the water body.
“There is a place where Rontigad, or Ronti river, meets the Rishiganga. The debris that fell after the glacier breach on February 7 has blocked the Rishiganga water there, creating a lake,” said Navin Juyal, a retired geologist from the Physical Research Laboratory in Ahmedabad. “The water will definitely spill as the lake is full. We have been informed that authorities are trying to drain the water...The lake will not collapse, but it will gradually drain, which can be dangerous for those engaged in rescue work.”
He said a geologist, Naresh Rana, went to the area to physically inspect the lake with the help of villagers on Wednesday.
YP Sundriyal, geologist and professor of the Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, said he and his colleague Rana found out about the lake formation on Wednesday and informed the authorities.
A State Disaster Response Force team was sent to the area on Friday to assess the situation before draining out the waters, according to Riddim Agarwal, deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), SDRF. “A team of SDRF reached there...exact information could be received once the team returns,” Nilesh Anand Bharne, deputy inspector general (law and order), said. The team is working on setting up a temporary helipad there.
In a statement on Friday evening, the Uttarakhand government said scientists of the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun, who conducted an aerial survey of the site, informed chief secretary Om Prakash that water flow had started from the lake.
Rescuers have retrieved 38 bodies since tragedy struck Chamoli district on Sunday morning, when a glacier breach sent a torrent of water and sludge hurtling down a valley into the Rishiganga river (it becomes Alaknanda in Chamoli city). At least 166 people have been missing since the subsequent flooding that hit villages, including Reni, on the way, damaged two power plants (the Tapovan project and the Rishiganga hydel project), and prompted a section of experts to link the event to climate change.
“It is understood from various satellite images and aerial surveys that rocks and boulders from Nanda Ghunti or Trishul, the two peaks here, have fallen on the glacier. There was no lake on the surface of the glacier, but there may have been subsurface water bodies. The glacier surface along with ice, water, debris fell on February 7. Because of the remoteness of the region studying it manually is very difficult.” The India Meteorological Department (IMD), meanwhile, warned that a fresh, feeble western disturbance was likely to impact the Western Himalayas from February 14 to 16. There is likely to be light rainfall (up to 1 cm) and snowfall (up to 10 cm) in the northern parts of Uttarakhand, including Chamoli.