18 high flood levels breached in Western India in Sept. 2023
Narmada

18 high flood levels breached in Western India in Sept. 2023

SANDRP

(Feature Image: The water level of the Narmada river near Golden Bridge rises to 35 feet due to heavy rains, in Bharuch on Sept. 17, 2023. ANI/TNIE)

Several of Narmada basin districts in Madhya Pradesh have witnessed heavy to very heavy rainfall spells between September 14 to 16, 2023 resulting in severe flood situation along the river in Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and resultantly leading to breaching of Highest Flood Level (HFL) at 13 sites in Narmada Basin alone. Similarly, there have been at least 5 more HFL breaches during the same period in western India.

Narmada Basin An analysis of Central Water Commission’s (CWC) hydrographs shows that the Narmada river (8 sites) and its tributaries (5 sites) have set new HFL at least at 13 flood monitoring sites on Sept. 16, 2023. The details of these sites are given in the table below.

SNSite/
River		District/
State		Old HFL/ DateNew HFL/ Time/ DateRise over HFLAbove HFL for hours
1Abna at Khandwa/ NarmadaKhandwa/ Madhya Pradesh301.27 m 18.07.2022302.95 m 14:00 hour 16.09.20231.68 m~08 hours
   301.02 m 06.08.2019   
2Hathed at Misrod/ NarmadaHoshanga-bad/ Madhya Pradesh297.35 m 18.07.2022297.8 m
17:00 hour 16.09.2023		0.45 m~15 hours
3Kalimachak at Charuwa/ NarmadaHarda/ Madhya Pradesh286.2 m 18.07.2022287 m
10:00 hour 16.09.2023		0.80 m~03 hours
4Datuni at Dudwas/ NarmadaDewas/ Madhya Pradesh252.06 m 01.09.2020252.16 m 09:00 hour 16.09.20230.10 m~03 hours
5Kaner at Mendhikheda/ NarmadaKhargone/ Madhya Pradesh214.81 m 14.07.2022217.7 m
12:00 hour 16.09.2023		2.89 m  ~19 hours
6Charol at Barwah/ NarmadaKhargone/ Madhya Pradesh173.9 m 13.09.2019175.4 m
14:00 hour 16.09.2023		1.5 m~23 hours
    174.1 m 22.07.2023  
7Karam at Dahiwar/ NarmadaDhar/ Madhya Pradesh166.925 m 22.08.2020169.66 m 23:00 hour 16.09.20232.73 m~23 hours
8Mandleshwar/ NarmadaKhargone/ Madhya Pradesh157.29 m 31.08.1973158.4 m
23:00 hour 16.09.2023		1.11 m~10 hours
9Bhamgarh/ Chota TawaKhandwa/ Madhya Pradesh270.68 m 01.09.2019275.25 m 13:00 hour 16.09.20234.57 m~12 hours
10Beda at Satwadi (Gogawa)/ BedaKhargone/ Madhya Pradesh205.52 m 13.07.2022205.7 m
12:00 hour 16.09.2023		0.18 m~11 hours
11Maan at Gopalpura/ ManDhar/ Madhya Pradesh195.9 m 10.08.2019196.3 m
11:00 hour 17.09.2023		0.40 m~07 hours
12Deb at Khajuri/ DebBarwani/ Madhya Pradesh180.1 m 01.09.2022181.38 m 22:00 hour 16.09.20231.28 m~21 hours
13Barod at Thikri/ BarodBarwani/ Madhya Pradesh165.55 m 07.08.2019168.33 m 22:00 hour 16.09.20232.78 m~21 hours

Most of these are new sites where old HFLs were attained in 2022 (at 6 sites), in 2019 (3 sites) and in 2020 (2 sites). Mandleshwar site in Khargone district is the only exception where Narmada River has crossed the old HFL after 50 years. Strangely, CWC has upgraded the new HFL record for the Mandleshwar site which should have been done at the end of the monsoon season as per CWC’s SoP.   

Narmada Flood Level Reached Close To HFL

In addition to HFL breach incidents at 13 sites, the flood level in Narmada river has reached close to HFLs at least at 3 sites as shown in table given below.

SNSite/
River		District/
State		HFL/
Date		Peak Flood Level/
Time/ Date		Missed Crossing HFL by Meter
1Machak at Bargi/ NarmadaHarda/ Madhya Pradesh276.7 m 18.07.2022276.5 m
10:00 hour 16.09.2023		0.20 m
2Mortakka/ NarmadaKhandwa/ Madhya Pradesh173.736 m 16.09.1961172.85 m
21:00 hour 16.09.2023		0.88 m
3Garudeshwar/ NarmadaNarmada/ Gujarat41.645 m 06.09.197038.9 m
13:00 hour 17.09.2023		2.74 m
4Bharuch/ NarmadaBharuch/ Gujarat12.645 m 06.09.197012.34 m
05:00 hour 18.09.2023		0.30 m
5Chanwada/ OrsangVadodara/ Gujarat33.55 m NA32.54 m
18:00 hour 17.09.2023		1.01 m
6Rajpipla/
Karjan		Narmada/ Gujarat30.3 m 07.09.199429.3 m
19:00 hour 17.09.2023		1 m

While Machak at Bargi is new site, the Mortakka and Bharuch sites are old sites where the HFL breach has been missed by 0.55 meters and 0.30 meters respectively. The Garudeshwar, Chanwada and Rajpipla sites are listed here only for documentation purpose.

HFL breach in other western India basins Also, there are at least 5 sites in Ganga (2), Tapi (2) and Mahi (1) basins where old HFLs have been breached during this flood spell. The details of these sites are given below.

SNSite/
River		District/
State		Old HFL/ DateNew HFL/
Time/ Date		Rise over HFLAbove HFL for hours
1Dhareri/ ChambalUjjain/ Madhya Pradesh482.208 m 10.08.1979482.62 m
14:00 hour 17.09.2023		0.41 m~15 hours
2Palwa/ ChamlaUjjain/ Madhya Pradesh482.85 m 23.08.2020483.73 m
18:00 hour 17.09.2023		0.88 m~13 hours
3Nawtha/ TapiBurhanpur/ Madhya Pradesh249 m
NA		249.6 m
14:00 hour 16.09.2023		0.60 m~03 hours
4Kholwad/ TapiSurat/ Gujarat11.91 m 29.09.202113.02 m
10:00 hour 18.09.2023		1.11 m~25 hours
5Borwa/ MahiRatlam/ Madhya Pradesh325.8 03.08.2016331.35 m
21:00 hour 16.09.2023		5.55 m~30 hours

 

The Dhareri site on the Chambal river in the above list is worth mentioning where the HFL has been breached after 44 years.

Sites Reaching Close to HFLs in Western India

Apart from the HFL breaches in Western India excluding Narmada basin, we could find 3 sites namely Mahidpur, Tal and Mataji on Shipra, Chambal and Mahi rivers respectively where flood level reached close to the previous HFLs. The other 3 sites Ujjain on Shipra river and Wanakbori & Khanpur on Mahi river in table below are mentioned for documentation purposes.

SNSite/
River		District/
State		HFL/
Date		Peak Flood Level/ Time/ DateMissed Crossing HFL by Meter
1Ujjain/
Shipra		Ujjain/ Madhya Pradesh483.81 m 16.08.1986482.09 m
02:00 hour 17.09.2023		1.72 m
2Mahidpur/ ShipraUjjain/ Madhya Pradesh456.3 m 10.08.2006455.57 m
19:00 hour 17.09.2023		0.73 m
3Tal/
Chambal		Ratlam/ Madhya Pradesh438.12 m 26.07.2015437.9 m
12:00 hour 18.09.2023		0.22 m
4Mataji/
Mahi		Ratlam/ Madhya Pradesh298.32 m 06.09.2006298 m
20:00 hour 16.09.2023		0.32 m
5Wanakbori/ MahiMahisagar/ Gujarat76.1 m 12.08.200674.97 m
01:00 hour 18.09.2023		1.13 m
6Khanpur/ MahiAnand/ Gujarat28.27 m 24.08.199026.45 m
09:00 hour 18.09.2023		1.82 m

Bhim Singh Rawat (bhim.sandrp@gmail.com)  

Published by SANDRP

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