Sutlej recedes; flood threat wanes

The threat of flash floods in Himachal has reduced substantially because of receding water levels of river Sutlej.

Himachal Pradesh power minister Vidya Stokes told rediff.com on Monday that the state administration kept tabs on the water level through the night.

"I left Shimla for Delhi when I got the news that the water levels have started doing down and the threat of floods has reduced for now. The state's 1500 MW Nathpa Jhakri power project is safe," Stokes told rediff.com.

But Delhiites and the northern states, which get their power supply from Nathpa power project, would have to wait for one more day.

"Because of the high level of silt we will not be able to resume power generation on Monday. At the moment the silt level is 15000 parts per million. We would have to wait until the evening to let the silt settle down before the power generation resumes. We would assess the situation later in the evening and then decide about it," she said.

The flash floods, which started with overflowing of Parchu river and melting glaciers due to excessive heat last week has caused extensive damage.

It washed away more then one dozen bridges in the Kinnaur-Rampur belt and several villages including Lio village have been swept away by the rushing waters.

There was an unprecedented rise of 25 metres in the water level of Sutlej on Sunday morning -- much higher than water levels of 2000 when flash floods caused extensive damage.

"We were able to control the damage because of the frequent warnings by the local administration. So far no loss of human life has been reported from any part of the state. Rampur-Kinnaur road has been breached in several places.

The damage could run into several crores of rupees. A high-level team of the state officials would visit the site and carry out assessment," she said.