PASIGHAT, Oct 20: The barrier lake formation at the Yarlung Tsangpo due to landslide on October 18 which triggered fear of probable disaster in downstream Siang in Arunachal Pradesh saw the biggest disaster management exercise in the history of the state which ended on Saturday late evening as the anticipated flash flood passed through the state peacefully without causing any damage in the 300 Km route of the Siang river.

The exercise involved officials of the highest level in New Delhi, who spent sleepless night on Friday to see that the water flows down peacefully through Arunachal Pradesh without causing any havoc in the downstream. In a first of its kind disaster management operation in the state, the Home Ministry pressed into service all available government agencies like NDRF, IAF, CWC, ISRO etc and even involving the Chinese embassy in Beijing.

The Union Cabinet Secretary Pradeep Kr Sinha reviewed the situation again in the evening today through video conferencing with the Chief Secretary of the state and the Chinese Embassy in Beijing. The Chinese side has informed that now there is no existence of any lake at the landslide location at Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibet.

In the year 2000 when there was an earthquake in Tibet and river Yarlung-Tsangpo was blocked for 62 days, no one knew why the Siang river was drying up. It breached after 2 months and the unforgettable Siang flood 2000 occurred. However, this time the timely sharing of information between the two nations managed to avert possible havoc.

The overflow at the landslides location, 80 Km downstream of Nuxia Hydrological Station at river Yarlung-Tsangpo started at about 2:30 pm on Friday. The water rushed down and reached Tuting at about 10:37 pm on the same evening.  It then reached Yingkiong at about 01:37 am on Saturday. 

The water level was high but did not cross the danger levels in both these locations. The water did not cause any damage in these two towns.  The water finally reached the foothill town of Pasighat at about 7:30 am on Saturday. No damage was caused to any part of Pasighat town.

District administration led by Dy. Commissioner, Tamiyo Tatak, officials of Disaster Management and police were on high alert and were constantly monitoring the situation. Lok Sabha MP, Ninong Ering, local MLA, Kaling Moyong and former Education Minister, Bosiram Siram  and Mebo MLA cum advisor to Chief Minister, Lombo Tayeng, were also monitoring the situation. MLA Moyong thanked the NDRF team for rescuing one Som Subba, 41, who was stranded across the Komlighat on a small island.  

Till the filing of this report flood waters is still passing through Pasighat and is likely to flow till Saturday midnight following which the water in the Siang is expected to become normal again.