Floods force closure of key power project

The 1,500 MW Nathpa hydro project was closed down after flood waters on the Parechu river in China's Himalayan region of Tibet rose up to 15 metres (50 feet), destroying infrastructure downstream on the Sutlej river in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

"The discharge of water has receded, but it is the high silt content in the river, which is worrying and forcing us to keep the project closed," a dam official, who did not want to be identified, told AFP.

The flood came when a Tibetan lake that was formed by rubble from a landslide burst its banks, sending a torrent of water down into India, where it destroyed a national highway, bridges and houses.

The official said the silt content was some fifteen times higher than normal at 31,000 parts per million (ppm).

"We can run our turbines if it drops to 5,000 ppm, even though the normal silt content in the river is around 1,000 to 2,000 ppm," he added.

Authorities said they were maintaining a flood alert although the level of the water had dropped.

Himachal Pradesh state government officials said the floods had caused some eight billion rupees (186 million dollars) worth of damage to property, besides closing the power project.

The 80 billion rupee (1.85 billion dollar) power project came into operation last May and since then has generated 7,423 million units of electricity for northern states including the power-starved capital.

It is equipped with Asia's largest underground power house complex, desilting chambers and the longest power tunnels in the country.

Meanwhile, plans have been drawn up to evacuate hundreds of villages in the south of the divided Himalayan state of Kashmir Tuesday because of rising water levels on the Chenab river.

The Chenab is one metre (3.3 feet) above the danger mark as the heaviest snowfall in two decades in Indian Kashmir melts amid soaring temperatures.