Attabad Lake spillways widened by FWO as the inflow of water increases in approaching summers

Attabad Lake spillways widened by FWO as the inflow of water increases in approaching summers

The officials of Frontier Works Organisation carried out a blasting plan on Monday to expand and deepen the spillway of Attabad lake, which formed after a devastating landslip two years ago.

“We have completed our task and through controlled blasting, the spillway has been widened. Dawn

“The action released a wave of 50,000 cusec water from the lake,” an official of the Frontier Works Organisation told .

He said the explosion took place at 2.23pm and all of a sudden water began gushing downstream, passing through dozens of villages before falling into Gilgit River at Danyore.

The official said since depth of the lake varied from point to point, it was difficult to assess impact of the explosion.

Gilgit-Baltistan Chief Minister Syed Mehdi Shah and the Director General of Frontier Works Organisation were present at the time of the explosion.

The water flow did no damage to villages downstream and there were no reports of property losses from any place. But police reported that the torrents damaged some link roads.

The district administration of Hunza and Gilgit districts had already evacuated villagers to safety.

An emergency was imposed in both the districts and government machinery was put on high alert. Some officials of the National Highway Authority were confident that water would recede from the Karakoram Highway soon.

The inflow of water in the lake has already increased in the past few days as the soaring temperatures are causing the ice to melt rapidly over the mountains.

The lake has brought misery to the lives of the local people but in some respect has also been a welcome source of earning for the local villagers.

Dozens of boats locally made and commissioned, haul tons of goods from one side of the destroyed Karakorum Highway to the other side, making reasonable money out of the logistic support.

The import/export carried from China via the Karakorum Highway was severely affected after the landslide which caused the creation of Attabad Lake and the residents of the nearby towns and villages resorted to ferrying goods from both sides through boats. 

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Posted by Naveed A Bari on Apr 4 2012. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry