Geotechnical Measures for Uttarakhand Flash Flood-2013, India

Abstract

Many “Run of the River” projects in the North West part of Himalaya have been frequented by “Cloud Burst” induced flash flood in since 2009, which is primarily attributed to climate variability and land use pattern changes due to unregulated developmental perspectives against the rising demand of tourist related establishments. Given the ageing population of vulnerable constructions along the hilly terrains, safety issues require more attention in the form of technical auditing cum inspections, routine monitoring, emergency drills, surveillance systems, and regularly updated emergency action plans. Added to this accelerated events of “cloud burst” induced flash flood in the hilly region has opened up Dam safety issues, which are rather debated in the court of law for which geo-professional intervention are to be looked into. This paper explains the climatic and other geo-morphological changes that might have caused Uttarakhand Flash Flood-2013. Damages to the geotechnical structures in the form of excessive erosion, landslides, siltation of catchment area of several Dams in Uttarakhand state of India are described along with some illustration of landslides mitigation by simple bio-engineering solution as one the means of reconstruction measures across the state.