Kheri DM sounds red alert amid flood threat

The DM asked the residents of flood-prone areas of Nighasan, Pallia, Dhaurahra and Lakhimpur tehsils to move to safer places in view of the flood threat

District magistrate Dr Arvind Kumar Chaurasiya sounded a red alert about impending flood in Kheri following excessive discharge of water into Sharda river from Banbasa barrage located in Champawat district of Uttarakhand on Tuesday.

The DM asked the residents of flood-prone areas of Nighasan, Pallia, Dhaurahra and Lakhimpur tehsils to move to safer places in view of the flood threat (HT photo)

“Around 5,33,000 cusec water had been discharged into the Sharda river from Banbasa barrage till Tuesday afternoon. It is likely to enter Kheri within next few hours,” he said. “It was in 2013 when over five lakh cusec water was released into the Sharda river which resulted in flood in 181 villages then,” Kheri DM added.

He asked the residents of flood-prone areas of Nighasan, Pallia, Dhaurahra and Lakhimpur tehsils to move to safer places in view of the flood threat.

Moreover, incessant rain for the past two days in the district and neighbouring Nepal led to the swelling of Kheri rivers of Sharda, Mohana, Ghaghra and Kaudiyala. Now, excessive discharge of water into the Sharda river would worsen the situation.

Meanwhile, heavy rain since Sunday coupled with strong winds has left Kheri farmers deeply worried about their paddy crops in the harvesting season. Rain and heavy winds have flattened the paddy crops while the harvested paddy crop lying in fields submerged in water causing severe loss to the farmers. Deokant Pandey