4 Mar 2015 | News

Humla landslide update

It has been reported that a massive avalanche in Limi of Humla district in western Nepal has blocked the Karnali River on Tuesday (3 March 2015). As a result, the water level has suddenly been lowered in the downstream. The intense Westerlies have brought heavy snow and rain for the past couple of days, and access to the site by air has been hindered by bad weather.

Deo Raj Gurung

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According to the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology (DHM), Dadeldhura received 67 mm of rain yesterday, while Dhangadhi received 64 mm and Birendranagar and Jumla each received 56 mm of rain. This high 24-hour precipitation could have triggered a landslide. Meanwhile, use of satellite data for preliminary survey has been rendered futile by thick cloud cover, as indicated by MODIS images.

Data received from the Karnali station in Asaraghat at 4:30 p.m. yesterday (3 March 2015) shows an abrupt increase in the water level, which possibly indicates opening of the blockage, but no confirmation of the same has been sent from the field.

As advised, government bodies are working to alert people in the downstream to the possibility of flood in case of dam outburst.

ICIMOD is scheduled to acquire two satellite sensors through its network (SERVIR) on 6 March (EO-1) and 10 March (ASTER ). The images acquired so far where heavily covered by cloud and could not provide information about the potential landslide site.

Deo Raj Gurung

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