In the third month of South West Monsoon season 2025, we have been able to track at least 23 flood monitoring sites of the Central Water Commission (CWC) where the respective rivers have crossed their Highest Flood Level (HFL). These 23 sites are spread over 5 river basins -11 sites in Ganga basin, 9 sites in Indus basin & 1 each in Mahi, Godavari and Krishna basins.
These sites are located across 7 states including 9 in Jammu & Kashmir (UT), 5 sites in Uttar Pradesh, 3 each in Bihar and West Bengal and 1 each in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana. The sixth column of the table below is the information about rise in meter (m) over the old HFL, duration (hours-hrs) the river has stayed in extreme floods and number of years (yrs) after the HFL is breached. The details of all these sites are given in tables below.
Indus Basin:
Table 1: Rivers crossing HFL in Indus Basin Aug 2025
| SN | Site/ River | District/ State | Old HFL/ Date | New HFL/ Date | Rise/ Duration/ Year/ |
| 1 | Khanabal/ Jhelum | Anantnag/ J&K | 1594.5 m/ 25.06.2015 | 1594.84 m/ 05:00 hr/ 27.08.2025 | +0.34 m/ ~10 hrs/ 10 yrs |
| 2 | Rumshi/ Jhelum | Pulwama/ J&K | 1588.67 m/ 23.06.2022 | 1589.91/ 21:00 hr/ 27.08.2025 | +1.24 m/ NA/ 03 yrs |
| 3 | Neeru Nallah/ Chenab | Doda/ J&K | 1075.01 m/ NA | 1075.33 m/ 26.08.2025 | +0.32 m/ NA/ NA |
| 4 | Kalnai Nallah/ Chenab | Doda/ J&K | 932.1 m/ NA | 932.7 m/ 26.08.2025 | +0.06 m/ NA/ NA |
| 5 | Prem Nagar/ Chenab | Doda/ J&K | 900.41 m/ NA | 902.56 m/ 26.08.2025 | +2.15 m/ NA/ NA |
| 6 | Bardoh/ Chenab | Jammu/ J&K | NA | 283.655 m/ 27.08.2025 | NA |
| 7 | Kishanpur Manwal/ Tawi | Udhampur/ J&K | 436.75 m/ NA | 442.65 m/ 26.08.2025 | +5.9 m/ NA/ NA |
| 8 | Sidhra/ Tawi | Jammu/ J&K | 318.85 m/ 06.09.2014 | 321.1 m/ 17:00 hr/ 26.08.2025 | +2.25 m/ ~06 hrs/ 11 yrs |
| 9 | Basantpur/ Ravi | Samba/ J&K | NA | 318.35 m/ 26.08.2025 | NA |
In J&K, the river Chenab has crossed HFLs at maximum 4 sites followed by 2 each site in Jhelum and Tawi rivers and 1 site on Ravi river.
Except Bardoh site, the HFLs at 8 sites were attained on a single day of August 26, 2025.
Jhelum river at Khanabal and Tawi river at Sidhra site have breached the HFL after a decade. Tawi at Kishanpur Manwal site crossed the old HFL with the highest margin of 5.9 meter.
There could be more designated sites where rivers may have crossed their HFL, but extreme flood situation greatly affected CWC’s flood monitoring work during August 25-26, 2025. It is only after the extreme flood event, the CWC activated several of its sites in the Union Territory.
Due to inconsistency in CWC’s flood monitoring in J&K, we could not get the information for 6 sites regarding the old HFLs, dates, duration for which rivers remained in extreme floods in Aug.
Ganga Basin:
Table 2: Rivers crossing HFL in Ganga Basin Aug 2025
| SN | Site/ River | District/ State | Old HFL/ Date | New HFL/ Date | Rise/ Duration/ Year/ |
| 1 | Kachhala Bridge/ Ganga | Budaun/ UP | 162.91 m/ 20.07.2023 | 163.02 m/ 18:00 hr/ 11.08.2025 | +0.11 m ~66 hrs/ 02 yrs |
| 2 | Sardhua/ Paisuni | Chitrakoot/ UP | 91.42 m/ 28.08.2022 | 93 m/ 15:00 hr/ 03.08.2025 | +1.58 m/ ~85 hrs/ 03 yrs |
| 3 | Ahraura/ Jirgo | Mirzapur/ UP | 76.8 m/ 21.08.2020 | 77.51 m/ 13:00 hr/ 24.08.2025 | +0.71 m/ ~7 hrs/ 05 yrs |
| 4 | Chunar/ Ganga | Mirzapur/ UP | 75.28 m/ 12.08.2021 | 75.35 m. 03:00 hr/ 05.08.2025 | +0.07 m/ ~25 hrs/ 04 yrs |
| 5 | Naryanpur/ Ganga | Mirzapur/ UP | 74.91 m/ 13.08.2021 | 75.11 m/ 02:00 hr/ 06.08.2025 | +0.20 m/ ~46 hrs/ 04 yr |
| 6 | Masaurhi/ Dhardha | Patna/ Bihar | 57.79 m/ 26.08.2024 | 58.58 m/ 18:00 hr/ 26.08.2025 | +0.89 m/ ~85 hrs/ 01 yr |
| 56.75 m/ 30.09.2019 | |||||
| 7 | Ahiro/ Gerua | Banka/ Bihar | 52.42 m/ 14.08.2021 | 52.84 m/ 02:00 hr/ 04.08.2025 | +0.42 m/ ~39 hrs/ 04 yrs |
| 8 | Ekchari/ Gerua | Bhagalpur/ Bihar | 33.36 m/ 01.10.2019 | 33.45 m/ 07:00 hr/ 11.08.2025 | +0.09 m/ ~72 hrs/ 06 yrs |
| 9 | Kuthibari/ Icchamati | N24 Pargana/ W Bengal | 12.15 m/ 17.09.2024 | 12.16 m/ 09:00 hr/ 06.08.2025 | +0.01 m/ ~39 hrs/ 01 yr |
| 12.26 m/ 22:00 hr/ 08.08.2025 | +0.11 m/ ~166 hrs | ||||
| 12.22 m/ 15:00 hr/ 23.08.2025 | +0.07 m/ ~116 hrs | ||||
| 10 | Bajitpur/ Icchamati | N24 Pargana/ W Bengal | 12.12 m/ 17.09.2024 | 12.2 m/ 22:00 hr/ 08.08.2025 | +0.08 m/ ~150 hr/ 01 yr |
| 12.12 m/ 04.08.2025 | 0.0 m/ ~10 hrs | ||||
| 12.17 m/ 06:00 hr/ 24.08.2025 | +0.05/ ~92 hrs | ||||
| 11 | Bangaon/ Icchamati | N24 Pargana/ W Bengal | 8.06 m/ 27.09.2024 | 8.09 m/ 13:00 hr/ 23.08.2025 | +0.03 m/ ~66 hrs/ 01 yr |
Of the 11 sites in basin, the Ganga river has crossed HFL at 3 sites only which all are in the UP, and the remaining 8 sites are located on its tributaries including Icchamati (at 3 sites), Gerua (at 2 sites) and 1 site each on Paisuni, Jirgo, Dhardha rivers.
The Ahiro site in Banka and Ekchari site in Bhagalpur are located on Gerua river and CWC has wrongly mentioned them on Ganga River.
It is also observed that the Ganga River at Kachhala Bridge site in UP, Dhardha at Masaurhi in Bihar and Icchamati at Kuthibari, Bajitpur sites in W Bengal are breaching HFLs frequently and staying in extreme and severe floods for days. So far, CWC has not officially explained reason behind the unusual flood levels at these sites.
Interestingly, the Icchamati river at Kuthibari and Bajitpur sites crossed the Sept. 2024 HFLs thrice in Aug 2025.
Table 3: Rivers crossing HFL in Mahi Basin Aug 2025
| SN | Site/ River | District/ State | Old HFL/ Date | New HFL/ Date | Rise/ Duration/ Year/ |
| 1 | Khandiovari/ Som | Udaipur/ Rajasthan | 272.2 m/ 01.10.2019 | 272.45 m/ 12:00 hr/ 25.08.2025 | +0.25 m/ `~02 hrs/ 06 yrs |
Table 4: Rivers crossing HFL in Godavri Basin Aug 2025
| SN | Site/ River | District/ State | Old HFL/ Date | New HFL/ Date | Rise/ Duration/ Year/ |
| 1 | Tumnar/ Dantewada | Dantewada/ Chhattisgarh | 326.83 m/ 04.09.1994 | 331.757 m/ 03:00 hrs/ 27.08.2025 | +4.92 m/ ~10 hrs/ 31 yrs |
Godavari Basin: It is quite interesting that the Dantewada river has crossed the HFL after 31 years with a significant margin of 4.92 meters, this is likely to be effect of Polavaram Dam. Like the case of J&K rivers, the extreme flood disabled CWC monitoring and hydrograph updation work for almost a day at this site.
Table 5: Rivers crossing HFL in Krishna Basin Aug 2025
| SN | Site/ River | District/ State | Old HFL/ Date | New HFL/ Date | Rise/ Duration/ Year/ |
| 1 | Dindi/ Suddakal | Nagarkurnool / Telanggana | 430.93 m/ 10.10.2017 | 431.22 m/ 17:00 hr/ 14.08.2025 | +0.29 m/ ~21 hrs/ 08 yrs |
Krishna Basin: First on August 10, 2025, the CWC on X (Twitter) wrongly shared the HFL for Dindi river at Suddaal site as 430.36 meter and mentioned that the HFL was breached by 0.17 meter. Then CWC changed the HFL to 430.93 meter dated 10.10.2017 which meant the river had not crossed the HFL at the site. Interestingly, the river finally breached the updated HFL on August 14, 2025. This incident again highlighted poor HFL record keeping by CWC.
Rivers flowing close to HFLs
In August 2025, we have been able to find at least 18 sites where rivers have reached close to their respective HFLs. These sites are spread across 7 states. Interestingly maximum 15 of these sites are part of Ganga basin and 1 each in Brahmaputra, Godavari and Krishna Basins. State wise the maximum 10 sites are in Bihar, followed by 3 in Uttar Pradesh and 1 each in Assam, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka states.
Table 6: Rivers reaching close to HFL in Aug 2025
| SN | River/ Site | District/ State | HFL/ Date | Peak Level/ Date | Gap |
| 1 | NT Road X/ Jia Bharali | Sonitpur/ Assam | 78.5 m/ 26.07.2007 | 78.48 m/ 12:00 hr/ 13.08.2025 | -0.03 m |
| 78.5 m/ 01.07.2024 | |||||
| 2 | Rajhara/ North Koel | Palamau/ Jharkhand | 183.21 m/ 20.08.2019 | 182.95 m/ 07:00 hr/ 24.08.2025 | -0.26 m |
| 3 | Seondha/ Sind | Datia/ MP | 143.74 m/ 12.09.2024 | 143.38 m/ 14:00 hr/ 31.07.2025 | -0.36 m |
| 4 | Fatehgarh/ Ganga | Farrukhabad/ UP | 138.14 m/ 26.09.2010 | 137.99 m/ 06:00 hr/ 14.08.2025 | -0.15 m |
| 5 | Bhinga/ Rapti | Shrawasti/ UP | 120.81 m/ 08.10.2022 | 120.52 m/ 24:00 hr/ 05.08.2025 | -0.29 m |
| 6 | Zamania/ Karamnasa | Ghazipur/ UP | 68.49 m/ 14.08.2021 | 68.15 m/ 07:00 hr/ 26.08.2025 | -0.34 m |
| 7 | Danapur/ Ganga | Patna/ Bihar | 52.61 m/ 15.08.2021 | 52.37 m/ 23:00 hr/ 08.08.2025 | -0.24 m |
| 8 | Mahnar/ Ganga | Vaishali/ Bihar | 51.08 m/ 16.08.2021 | 50.76 m/ 23:00 hr/ 08.08.2025 | -0.32 m |
| 9 | Gandhighat/ Ganga | Patna/ Bihar | 50.52 m/ 21.08.2016 | 50.2 m/ 23:00 hr/ 08.08.2025 | -0.50 m |
| 10 | Bankaghat/ Ganga | Patna/ Bihar | 49.44 m/ 16.08.2021 | 49.17 m/ 17:00 hr/ 08.08.2025 | -0.27 m |
| 11 | Hathidah/ Ganga | Patna/ Bihar | 43.52 m/ 16.08.2021 | 43.21 m/ 06:00 hr/ 09.08.2025 | -0.31 m |
| 12 | Bhagalpur/ Ganga | Bhagalpur/ Bihar | 34.86 m/ 18.08.2021 | 34.65 m/ 23:00 hr/ 10.08.2025 | -0.21 m |
| 13 | Kahalgaon/ Ganga | Bhagalpur/ Bihar | 32.87 m/ 17.09.2003 | 32.82 m/ 23:00 hr/ 10.08.2025 | -0.05 m |
| 14 | Yadunathpur/ Sone | Rohtas/ Bihar | 148.14 m/ 15.08.2019 | 147.85 m/ 05:00 hr/ 26.08.2025 | -0.29 m |
| 15 | Maner/ Sone | Patna/ Bihar | 53.79 m/ 10.09.1976 | 53.46 m/ 23:00 hr/ 08.08.2025 | -0.33 m |
| 16 | Benibad/ Baghmati | Muzaffarpur/ Bihar | 50.01 m/ 17.07.2024 | 49.74 m/ 05:00 hr/ 10.08.2025 | -0.29 m |
| 17 | Degloor/ Lendi | Nanded/ Maharashtra | 364.85 m/ 01.10.2016 | 364.37 m/ 11:00 hr/ 29.08.2025 | -0.48 m |
| 18 | Talikot/ Doni | Bijapur/ Karnataka | 502.21 m/ 15.10.2020 | 501.85 m/ 23:00 hr/ 08.08.2025 | -0.36 m |
SANDRP
SANDRP 