(Feature Image: Yamuna rivers in severe flood situation at Pachnada in Etawah, UP on Sept. 14, 2024. Image source Udaybhan)
It is interesting to see that at least 11 rivers at as many flood monitoring sites of Central Water Commission (CWC) located in Bundelkhand region (4 sites) and lower Yamuna basin (7 sites) have crossed old Highest Flood Level (HFL) just in 2 days on September 12-13, 2024. These sites are in 3 different states of Madhya Pradesh (7 sites), Uttar Pradesh (3 sites) and Rajasthan (1 site).
It is noteworthy here that this is happening even as Upper Narmada basin adjacent to these areas is also facing floods due to simultaneous high rainfall on both sides of the ridge. The other detail on this remarkable event is given as below.
| SN | Site/ River | District/ State | Old HFL/ Date | New HFL/ Date | Rise over old HFL in meter |
| 1 | Sarva/ Pana | Bhind/ Madhya Pradesh | 161.12 m 12.10.2022 | 162.1 m* 08:00 hour 14.09.2024 | 0.98 m |
| 161.09 m 12.07.2019 | 161.36 m 07.07.2024 | ||||
| 2 | Gata/ Vesli | Bhind/ Madhya Pradesh | 139.59 m 09.08.2023 | 144.9 m* 08:00 hour 14.09.2024 | 5.31 m |
| 139.54 m 12.10.2022 | 141.39 m 08.07.2024 | ||||
| 138.84 m 27.09.2019 | |||||
| 3 | Seondha/ Sind | Datia/ Madhya Pradesh | 143.7 m 04.08.2021 | 143.74 m 19:00 hour 12.09.2024 | 0.04 m |
| 4 | Jaraina/ Asan | Morna/ Madhya Pradesh | 172.67 m 18.08.2020 | 176.5 m* 20:00 hour 12.09.2024 | 3.83 m |
| 5 | Unnao Balaji/ Pahuj | Datia/ Madhya Pradesh | 208.18 m 15.08.2019 | 208.8 m 09:00 hour 12.09.2024 | 0.62 m |
| 6 | Masoodpur/ Non | Gwalior/ Madhya Pradesh | 212.75 m 09.07.2019 | 214.45 m 22:00 hour 12.09.2024 | 1.7 m |
| 7 | Narsingh- garh/ Sonar | Damoh/ Madhya Pradesh | 335.5 m 16.09.2023 | 336.94 m 02:00 hour 12.09.2024 | 1.44 m |
| 8 | Baretha/ Uttangan | Dholpur/ Rajasthan | 159.55 m 03.08.2021 | 161.1 m* 20:00 hour 13.09.2024 | 1.55 m |
| 9 | Kiraoli/ Khari | Agra/ Uttar Pradesh | 165.93 m 24.08.2020 | 166.86 m* 06:00 hour 14.09.2024 | 0.93 m |
| 10 | Parkham/ Ujjina | Mathura/ Uttar Pradesh | 171.26 m 13.03.2020 | 171.30 m* 13:00 hour 13.09.2024 | 0.04 m |
| 11 | Lahchura-ghat/ Dhasan | Jhansi/ Uttar Pradesh | 175.07 m 23.08.2022 | 176.71 m 03:00 hour 12.09.2024 | 1.64 m |
*Rivers at these sites are still in extreme flood situation with rising trend and new HFL could be higher than mentioned here.
The maximum 6 rivers on these sites have attained new HFL on September 12, followed by 3 rivers on September 14 and 2 rivers on September 13, 2024. Additionally, river Chambal at Udi site, Ken at Pailani and Chillaghat site and main stem of Yamuna at Juhikha, Auraiya, Kalpi, Hamirpur sites have been flowing in severe flood condition.
Bundelkhand Region: River Sind at Seondha, Pahuj at Unnao Balaji sites both in Datia district, Sonar at Narsinghgarh site in Damoh district of Madhya Pradesh and River Dhasan at Lahchuraghat site in Jhansi district in Uttar Pradesh are 4 rivers crossing old HFL in Bundelkhand region.
HFL Lower than Danger Level: Surprisingly, only after the 5 rivers namelyAsan at Jaraina site, Pahuj at Unnao Balaji, Sonar at Narsinghgarh, Khari at Kiraoli and Uttangan at Baretha reached extreme flood situation, the CWC inserted the danger and warning levels at these sites and in all these cases the danger level is higher than the HFL attained at these sites by the respective rivers.
Similarly, Vesli river at Gata site and Pana river at Sarva site both in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh are old sites where HFL has been crossed twice since 2019. Rivers at both sites attained new peak in July 2024 too and CWC upgraded the July 2024 HFL, while as per its SoP the July 2024 HFL should have been upgraded at the end of this monsoon season.
Bhim Singh Rawat (bhim.sandrp@gmail.com)
SANDRP 