Bhakra Dam's flood gate opened, nearby villages warned to vacate

"Bhakra Dam's flood gates opened, nearby villages warned to vacate.

The five districts of Punjab got flooded after heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh once again. The affected districts are Hoshiarpur, Roopnagar, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, and Ferozpur.

The army and NDRF have been called to Hoshiarpur to save lives as the situation in Hoshiarpur is getting worse. A total of 766 people have been saved, out of which 213 were rescued by helicopter, 422 by boat, and 131 by other means. The people were shifted to schools and religious institutions.

The flood gates of Bhakra and Pong are expected to remain open for the next 3-4 days to control the water level.Heavy rain resulted in excess water flowing into streams and rivulets located downstream of the dams.

“ We have been undertaking controlled discharge of water from the dams over the past month to address this situation. During this period, 6-7 billion cubic meters of additional water have been released,” officials at the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) stated.

The water level at Pong had almost reached 1,399.65 feet on August 16, nearly 10 feet above the permissible limit of 1,390 feet.

The water level recorded at Bhakra Dam on August 16 was 1,677, which is still three feet below the maximum permissible level of 1,680 feet.

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Report by Gazal Sachdeva.

Graphics by Abhi Mittal.