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36 villages at flood risk, if Ata Abad lake overruns
GILGIT-BALTISTAN: The rising water level at the landslide-triggered lake has posed threat of outflow from the under construction spillway, Geo News reported Tuesday.
According to administration at least 36 villages situated from Hunza and Gilgit may possibly be affected with the overspill.
Addressing an emergency press conference here, Gilgit’s Home Secretary Asif Bilal Lodhi and the Speaker of the Legislature Wazir Baig said Ata Abad Lake may pour out from May 30 to June 4.
‘The outpouring poses potential threat to at least 36 villages; however, all necessary arrangements have been completed to cope with the situation.’
Home Secretary said low-lying areas between Hunza and Gilgit would be evacuated, adding essential commodities including food and medicines would be dispatched in the next five days to the areas affected by the flood.
He added the edibles would be stacked up for the next two months.
Lodhi said large flood wave caused by the rising water level at the lake, may harm eight bridges at Karakoram Highway from Hunza to Gilgit.
At least 24 hours after the flood, the passage to the affected areas would be restored by installing emergency bridges.
The water has reached Gulmit, the largest town in Gojal sub-district of Hunza-Nagar District.
“The situation is quite critical. About 13,000 people in the affected area face displacement,” said Noor Muhammad, of the NGO Focus Humanitarian Assistance, which has been monitoring the situation in Hunza.
He said organized evacuations had not begun but people had been moving away. “People need to be relocated to safe areas. The situation is quite dangerous.” Nine sites, including government schools and other buildings, had been identified for housing people, he added.
The lake is 16km long and 350 metres wide. Water is pouring into it at the rate of 2,500 cubic metres per day, according to media reports. The lake does not have an appropriate spillway, so there is a risk it could suddenly burst its banks.
The Pakistan army’s Frontier Works Organization has been attempting since January to create a spillway, but is now likely to stop work, according to Muhammad, due to rising water levels in the lake and the threat of flooding.
The 4 January landslide caused at least 13 deaths and blocked the river in the Ata Abad area. The lake that formed cut road links to Gojal, resulting in food shortages there. If the lake bursts its banks, flash floods could cause havoc downriver.
Courtesy www.Geo.tv