Lucknow: There is no need for panic in UP despite the flash flood in Nepal, since the Gandak river is expected to remain below the danger level, said an irrigation department official.“Last year, we successfully passed a discharge of around six lakh cusecs. There is no need to panic this time,” Vikash Kumar Singh, chief engineer-II (Gandak), irrigation department told TOI. Local district administration and irrigation authorities are on alert and officials deployed at vulnerable sites, he added.Singh said the surge would reach the Valmiki Barrage near the Nepal-Bihar border and subsequently pass along Maharajganj and Kushinagar before proceeding into Bihar. Deoria will not fall in the path of this floodwater, he clarified.According to Singh, a sharp rise was recorded in the Trishuli river, a tributary of the Gandak, on Wednesday morning, but the water level soon began falling rapidly.As a precaution, canals have temporarily been closed because flash floods from the hills carry large quantities of silt. They will be reopened once the high-silt flow passes.Singh said officials currently do not expect the Gandak to cross the danger level or spill into agricultural fields in Uttar Pradesh.
