Uttarakhand glacier burst brings back memory of 2013 flash floods

Originating from Vasudhara Tal, maybe the most important glacial lake in Uttarakhand, the Dhauliganga flows in a meandering course, which takes it by the Nanda Devi National Park.

Known for its spectacularly stunning route and whitewater rafting, the river changed into a deathly torrent on Sunday after a component of the Nanda Devi glacier broke off and collapsed into it.

The Dhauliganga, which merges with the Alaknanda, is one of the a number of tributaries of the Ganga, because the river flows down from the Himalayas and snakes its method by the plains. The tributaries intersect, stream into each other or meander away passing by a number of cities in 5 States.

In Uttarakhand, the Ganga and its tributaries go by essential vacationer locations similar to Rishikesh, Haridwar, Rudraprayag and Karnaprayag. Sunday’s collapse of the glacier led to rippling flash floods within the Dhauliganga and the Rishiganga and in addition impacted the Alaknanda.

This additionally introduced highlight on the 2013 flash floods within the hill States that worn out settlements and killed over 5,000 individuals.

Dhauliganga is joined by Rishiganga river at Raini the place the catastrophe on the energy challenge dam happened.

The river takes a V-turn and continues to stream in the wrong way, towards north, because the Dhauliganga for an additional 30-odd km, by Tapovan, till it’s joined by the Alaknanda at Vishnuprayag close to Joshimath.

There it loses its identification and the Alaknanda flows southwest — by Chamoli, Maithana, Nandaprayag, Karnaprayag till it meets the Mandakini river, coming from the north at Rudraprayag.

After subsuming Mandakini, the Alaknanda carries on previous Srinagar, earlier than becoming a member of the Ganga at Devprayag close to Kedarnath.

Alaknanda then disappears and the mighty Ganga carries on its journey, first flowing south then west by essential pilgrimage centres similar to Rishikesh and at last descending into the Indo-Gangetic plains at Haridwar.

Still on a southern course, the Ganga goes previous Bijnor when it loops back on an easterly course towards Kanpur.

The Yamuna, Ramganga and Ghaghara are the opposite Himalayan rivers that be a part of the Ganga.

Dhauliganga is one of the essential tributaries of Alaknanda, the opposite being the Nandakini, Pindar, Mandakini and Bhagirathi.

The Himalayan rivers go by environmentally fragile areas. However, like different Himalayan rivers, the Dhauliganga too has been dammed. Dhauliganga additionally has an influence station of the National Hydropower Corporation Ltd of 280 MW at Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand.

According to the South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People, a assume tank, underneath building HEPs threaten about 50% of the Dhauliganga’s size.