Srinagar: After continuous rainfall for over a week, water bodies in Kashmir Valley are brimming as river Sindh crossed the flood alarm mark while the Vishow Nallah in Kulgam was flowing above the danger level at noon on Wednesday. Moreover, the water level in Wullar Lake was 1575.87m against the flood deceleration mark of 1578 at 12:00 a.m.
River Jhelum already crossed flood-alarm-mark of 18-ft near Sangam in South Kashmir at around 10 a.m. and two hours since then, the level has risen to 19.83, just 1.17-ft below the mark when a flood is declared.
At Munshi Bagh gauge in Srinagar, an official of the Irrigation & Flood Control Department said that the water level was 13.7-ft, 2.3-ft below the alarm level of 16-ft and 4.5-ft below flood level of 18-ft.
At Asham in Bandipora district, the official said, the Jhelum level was at 7.19-ft against 14-ft mark when a flood is sounded in north Kashmir.
While Jhelum was flowing at its lowest ebb in several years until recently, rains the from last few days brought a considerable rise in the water level.
Regarding some tributaries, the official said, the water level in Vishow Nallah at Khudwani was 10.7m, three feet above the danger mark, while the nallah Lidder at Batkoot was at 1.21m (recording a decrease of few notices in the last 2 hours), Doodhganga Nallah at Barzulla was 3.09m against the dangerous mark of 3.65m, Sindh Nallah at Doderhama was flowing 3.36 m against 3.5m (alarm) and 3.65m (when flood is declared), Sukhnag Nallah at Arizal was flowing at 0.54m (below 5 notches than at 10 a.m) against 1.3 (flood alarm) and 1.8m(flood), Ferozpora Nallah at Drung in Tangmarg was 1.42 m (at 10 a.m.) against (1.85 (flood alarm)/2.0m (flood) while Pohru Nallah at Seelu was at 3.35m against 4.2m (flood alarm) and 4.6m (when is flood declared).
The weatherman has forecast improvement in the weather and it was unlikely that flood is ultimately declared at all places even though the water level in Srinagar and north Kashmir may increase in the next few hours due to downward flow, an expert said.
Srinagar on Tuesday had recorded a maximum temperature of 15.0 degrees Celsius, 14.2 notches lower than the normal for this time of the year, experts say weather extremes are taking a heavy toll on the ecological balance of Kashmir.
(GNS)