India to release water from Farakka Barrage

Rise in Padma level likely

India has decided to fully open all the 104 gates of the Farakka Barrage on the Ganges, the BBC reported yesterday. The radio service reported that it was being done to relieve the flood situation in Bihar by releasing some 11 lakh cusecs of water. But how will it affect the situation downstream when the Ganges is already rising, bearing loads of extra water from the floods upstream in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar? "Extra water has been coming through the barrage as the Ganges has been rising for the past two weeks, a situation we are watching," said Sajjad Hossain, executive engineer in-charge of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC).
Despite the fact that the Ganges-Padma is likely to continue rising in the next 48 hours, the situation is not alarming. It could affect low-lying areas downstream at Rajbari and Munshiganj, but the water would pass away down the Meghna to the Bay of Bengal, Hossain said. He said the Ganges in spate could only cause a bad situation when it rises in tandem with the Brahmaputra, through which most of Bangladesh’s water rolls down its basin. However, the Brahmaputra-Jamuna has not turned alarming after its savage flooding in late July. Since then, the river had been on the wane and its retreat would continue in the next 48 hours, the FFWC said in its latest bulletin.
The only trouble posed for the next few days was the Kushiyara, which suddenly went into spate in the north-east. But it would start falling in the next 24 hours, the FFWC said. Sajjad Hossain said the river rose because of rainfall in its upstream in the Barak basin in Manipur, north-east India. Apart from the Kushiyara, another river that was on the rise is the Kobadak in Jhikargacha, flowing 116cm above its danger level yesterday. It was swelled by heavy rain on August 21 and earlier due to two successive low pressures turning into depressions and bringing heavy rain over the Jessore region.

India to release water from Farakka Barrage

Rise in Padma level likely

India has decided to fully open all the 104 gates of the Farakka Barrage on the Ganges, the BBC reported yesterday. The radio service reported that it was being done to relieve the flood situation in Bihar by releasing some 11 lakh cusecs of water. But how will it affect the situation downstream when the Ganges is already rising, bearing loads of extra water from the floods upstream in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar? Extra water has been coming through the barrage as the Ganges has been rising for the past two weeks, a situation we are watching, said Sajjad Hossain, executive engineer in-charge of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre (FFWC). Despite the fact that the Ganges-Padma is likely to continue rising in the next 48 hours, the situation is not alarming. It could affect low-lying areas downstream at Rajbari and Munshiganj, but the water would pass away down the Meghna to the Bay of Bengal, Hossain said. He said the Ganges in spate could only cause a bad situation when it rises in tandem with the Brahmaputra, through which most of Bangladeshs water rolls down its basin. However, the Brahmaputra-Jamuna has not turned alarming after its savage flooding in late July. Since then, the river had been on the wane and its retreat would continue in the next 48 hours, the FFWC said in its latest bulletin. The only trouble posed for the next few days was the Kushiyara, which suddenly went into spate in the north-east. But it would start falling in the next 24 hours, the FFWC said. Sajjad Hossain said the river rose because of rainfall in its upstream in the Barak basin in Manipur, north-east India. Apart from the Kushiyara, another river that was on the rise is the Kobadak in Jhikargacha, flowing 116cm above its danger level yesterday. It was swelled by heavy rain on August 21 and earlier due to two successive low pressures turning into depressions and bringing heavy rain over the Jessore region.