Sukhna floodgates opened after heavy rain in Chandigarh

Floodgates of the Sukhna Lake were opened at 3 am on Sunday morning after water levels touched the danger mark of 1,163 feet following heavy rain of around 80.1 mm from late Saturday night, officials of the engineering wing of the UT administration confirmed.

Showers are also expected on Sunday the weather department has said.

Water overflowed on the bridge on Bapu Dham Colony in Sector 26, because of which traffic had to be stopped, reports said.

Waterlogging was also reported on the bridge on Sukhna Choe, said Sanjeev Shukla, the general secretary of the Sector 26-E Resident Welfare Association (RWA).

Shailender Singh, chief engineer of the Chandigarh municipal corporation, confirmed that there was no waterlogging in other areas in the city and MC had received no complaints.

Two of the lake’s three floodgates were opened with no confirmation on when these would be closed. “The floodgates are still open and we don’t have a particular target but we will bring down water levels from 1,163 feet,” an engineering official said.

One of the floodgates of Sukhna Lake (Keshav Singh)

Water levels had touched 1,161.7 feet two days ago on August 21 and crossed 1,160 feet on August 13.

In what is usually a rare occurrence, the floodgates were last opened in September 2018 and before that in 2008.

The lake remained close on Sunday due to restrictions imposed on movement of people following increasing Covid-19 infections. Police officials said they had barricaded the road in front of the lake and were turning away people.

Meanwhile, Surender Paul, director, meteorological department, Chandigarh, said there was likelihood of light to moderate rains of up to 50 mm in the city through Sunday.