What caused the June 16-17 devastating floods in Uttarakhand? A report of an expert committee, constituted by the Union Ministry of Water Resources to find out the causes of the June calamity, has said that a combination of many factors led to the flash floods and the subsequent destruction. But the cloud burst is certainly not the reason behind the deluge, it says in its 64-page report submitted recent to the ministry.
The loss of human life in some areas was due to less reaction time, it said. The loss of property was due to heavy encroachment near river banks for commercial purposes like hotels and restaurants on routes leading to religious places like Kedarnath and Badrinath.
The seven-member committee was set up in July to find out the causes of the widespread floods and erosion in Uttarakhand during the June 16-17 calamity.
And what about the theory floated by some scientists that the bursting of Gandhi Sarovar lake near Kedarnath led to the flash floods? The panel said that needed to be established with further study.
Contrary to the general perception that cloudbursts had caused massive floods in June this year in the hill state, which left hundreds of people dead and rendered thousands of others homeless, the report said the natural disaster mainly occurred due to high melting rate of glaciers during the period and unprecedented heavy to very heavy rains in the catchment areas of the rivers. Another factor of heavy snowfall prior to rainfall, which melted rapidly due to rainfall, could not be verified owing to non-availability of data related to snowfall. The committee rejected the general perception of cloudbursts causing massive floods saying none of the observatory in Uttarakhand recorded the cloudburst type of rains during the period.
The committee noted that large storage of 2400-Mw Tehri dam was helpful in absorbing a substantial amount of flow in Bhagirathi on the fateful days of June. The highest observed discharge in the river Ganga at Haridwar was about 5.25 lakh cusec at that time. This could have been more than 6.5 lakh cusec in the absence of the Tehri dam. The report said construction of large storages, wherever feasible on Ganga and its tributaries could help stop floods in the future.
The committee also stated that the river banks in the region generally have very steep slopes which also became a big factor for the floods to engulf buildings and roads.
It recommended construction of town protection work in the dense populated areas with due emphasis to areas in the upper reaches. It also called for identification of vulnerable river banks and taking appropriate steps for slope-stabilisation in such reaches.
