Arunachal district threatened by floods

Incessant rains in the past couple of days have flooded several rivers in Lohit district of Arunachal Pradesh threatening Tezu, the district headquarters and its adjoining villages. According to official sources on Sunday, Tezu Nallah, Shukha Nallah and Dening Nallah rivers in the district have swelled abnormally because of relentless rain over the last six days.

The water resources department (WRD) is constantly monitoring the flood situation in the district, recording and updating the water levels and intensity of the rainfall. According to WRD sources, a staggering 363.6 mm rainfall was recorded during the last rainfall, which is a sign of alarming flood situation.

Dharanpur, Deorigaon and other villages in Namsai sub division are already flooded by Noa-Dihing river, and if the rains continue at the same rate, other villages too will be inundated, the sources said. "Shukha Nallah is posing the greatest threat as it is eroding the newly built security wall of the Airports Authority of India's (AAI) advance landing ground (ALG) as well as other parts of the airport," WRD assistant engineer SK Srivastav said.

"We have submitted an estimate of immediate flood protection work at the site to the AAI. Delay in the sanctioning the project is a risk factor, since the ALG needs quick anti-erosion measures," he said.

Meanwhile, the Parsuram Kund road, which was cut off by landslides, has been temporarily restored by the BRO, but continuous mudslides were still making restoration work difficult. "We have temporarily stationed adequate men and machineries at the slide areas to keep the road open," BRO official P K Gupta said.