Sikkim Teesta Disaster: Preventive Strategies?

29 Nov 2023 CW Team

Teesta Urja, the second biggest run-of-the-river hydropower project in India, suffered massive damage owing to the flash flood caused by the breach in Lhonak Lake in northwest Sikkim, which submerged the hydropower project and washed away the 60-m-high Chungthang Dam. Even the 200-m bridge connecting the dam with the power station was washed away within 10 minutes. A large section of the dam's wall is also missing. At least three hydropower projects totalling 2,210 MW have been damaged in the Sikkim flash floods. The worst affected of the three is the 1,200-MW Teesta Stage-III hydropower plant, which was the biggest operational hydropower station in Sikkim. NHPC, India's largest hydropower public-sector undertaking (PSU), shut its 510 MW Teesta-V hydel plant due to the flash floods. Officials said that the extent of damage to the hydel station was substantial. The engineering feat, touted to be among the strongest in the world, affected human lives and property on a massive scale.

WHAT CAUSED IT?

Analysts say that it may have been a glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF) as Sikkim has about 80 glaciers. The Himalayan region has had a history of GLOF-related disasters including the 1926 Jammu and Kashmir deluge, the 1981 Kinnaur Valley floods in Himachal Pradesh and the 2013 Kedarnath outburst in Uttarakhand. Another reason cited is the earthquakes in Nepal with aftershocks felt in the National Capital Region since Lhonak lake is about 700 km from the earthquake epicentre, theoretically making it possible that seismic activity may have triggered the GLOF. Thus, the exact trigger for the incident is uncertain because of the remote and inaccessible terrain.

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