GUWAHATI, Oct 20 - Amidst the hullabaloo of a devastating flood being created by the reported breach in the landslide-induced barrier lake on the Yarlung Zangbo, the Chinese part of the Siang, the main stream of the Brahmaputra, at Milin section, 70 km from the Nuxia Hydrological Station in Tibet, China, it is now observed that the Siang at Tuting along the Indo-China border in Arunachal Pradesh, is, in fact, maintaining a receding trend this evening.
According to highly placed sources in the Water Resources Department (WRD), Assam, the water level of the Brahmaputra was not rising in Dibrugarh till 6 pm today, though the velocity of the river�s flow seemed to be rising slightly till then.
However, the Siang�s water level rose by around 2 feet at upstream Jonai in Dhemaji district around that time. However, it is expected that the water level of the river at Jonai would remain below its warning level, sources said.
The Siang at Tuting is maintaining a falling trend. The river recorded a water level of 404.62 metres at 9 pm on October 19 against the water level of 424.43 metres recorded on September 6, 2010.
At 11.30 pm on October 19, the water level recorded at Tuting was 417.30 metres. From that time, the water level of the river started receding at that point, sources said, adding that at 1 pm today, the river recorded a water level of 406.68 metres and at 6 pm, the river recorded a water level of 406.36 metres.
At Pasighat, the Siang recorded a water level of 152.93 metres at 1 pm today against its danger level of 153.96 metres at that point. At 2 pm today, the river recorded a water level of 152.97 metres and at 6 pm, it recorded a water level of 152.46 metres at Pasighat. The Siang recorded the highest flood level (HFL) of 167.54 metres at Pasighat on June 11, 2000.
At Dibrugarh, the Brahmaputra recorded a water level of 103.32 metres at 1 pm today against its danger level of 105.70 metres. The river recorded its HFL of 106.48 metres at Dibrugarh on September 6, 2010, sources said.
It needs to be mentioned here that interpreting a message sent from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) headquarters yesterday, a section of the media reported that the barrier lake on the Yarlung Zangbo had breached and water from it was flowing at the rate of 80,000 cubic metres per second (cumecs), which sounded the alarm bell.
Meanwhile, the North East Students� Organisation (NESO), the All Assam Students� Union (AASU) and the All Arunachal Pradesh Students� Union (AAPSU) have made an appeal to the authorities concerned to take adequate measures for ensuring safety and security of the lives and properties of people living in the riparian areas of the Siang and the Brahmaputra in the event of any major catastrophe resulting from the breach in the Yarlung Zangbo barrier lake in China.
