One cloudburst - 2 dams destroyed?

Story of Malana Valley in Himachal Pradesh on the night of July 31-Aug 1, 2024.

(See post thread for images to help understand)

In a tragic replay of what happened in the Teesta River Valley in Sikkim in 2023, two hydro power projects have mostly been totally destroyed in the Malana rivulet valley on the night of July 31-Aug 1, 2024.

A total of 186 MW of power generation capacity and hundreds of crores of investment is probably gone.

All images and videos I have come across are of the storage unit of the Malana-I power project. Malana-II is apparently still inaccessible and there is no news of the situation there. Looking at the damages in the valley, it is highly unlikely that Malana-II has escaped unscathed.

The Malana rivulet originates from the Malana Glacier in the Beas basin in Himachal Pradesh. It flows quite rapidly downstream passing below the famous village of Malana to meet the Parvati River at Jhari. The Parvati then meets the Beas at Bhuntar.

Malana rivulet has two power projects built on it.

Malana-I - 86 MW and Malana-II - 100 MW. Malana-I is older than Malana-II.

Malana-II is upstream of Malana village and Malana-I downstream. Both the projects 'touch' each other. Malana-II ends just a few metres from where Malana-I begins. Malana-II was built because it was felt that the rivulet had potential to generate more energy.

Both the dams are technically 'run of the river' but have differing designs. Malana-II has bigger pondage than Malana-I. Interestingly, Malana-I has its powerstation on the banks of the Parvati River as its tunnel geometry brings it to the Parvati gorge. Malana-II's power station tucked behind the barrage of Malana-I, is not very visible in satellite pictures as the gorge is quite narrow.

Both the dams have had a troubled history - as is the case with all himalayan hydel projects.

Malana-I - has had very publicised issues with the foundation of its above-ground reservoir. the design of this project has water from the barrage flowing into de-silting ponds and then into an above-ground reservoir before entering the intake for the Head Race Tunnel. The above-ground reservoir is basically a concrete tank built in the bed of the rivulet - like a large swimming pool. The foundation of this tank has failed multiple times since 2001. It has leaked water and has been repaired many times.

Yesterday the de-silting ponds and the reservoir have been completely destroyed. You can hear in one of the disaster videos a person yelling dam has burst, he is speaking about this dam.

The barrage of Malana-I has a peak flood discharge capacity of 600 cumecs. It looks like it was overwhelmed completely for the ponds and reservoir to be destroyed. Malana-II upstream has flood discharge of 650 cumecs, just 50 higher than Malana-I. 50 cumecs will not cause damage like this, thus there was massive flow from upstream.

Malana-II - has had an equally troubled history and as recently as the cloudburst in the same rivulet in July 2023! Malana-II is a much bigger gravity storage pondage. Its floodgates jammed due to debris in 2023. It almost suffered an overtopping. Breaches were observed at the top of the dam. Lucky, it held. The jammed gates were finally apparently relieved in September 2023.

The BIG question: Were the gates completely repaired? Was the dam refilled again? Did the gates jam again? Did the damage on the sides of the gorge from 2023 give way? What is left of the dam today?

The only way such damage could happen to Malana-I is IF there was massive discharge from upstream.

The question to further ask now is what is the condition of the Malana Glacier? Did the cloudburst trigger a glacial slip or burst? Remember Kedarnath 2013?

With two incidents in back to back years + history of similar incidents in the last decade - across the himalayas, its now clear that changing rainfall patterns in the himalayas has rendered flood data of small hydro projects in upstream areas useless. Are we going to wake up and adapt? Are we going to pause and relook any projects under construction? Malana-I hydro power project.

Image 1: Power station on the banks of the Parvati River.

Image 2: Barrage site with de-silting ponds and above-ground reservoir visible.

(the power station for Malana-II is tucked in the shadow area of Image 2)

#TrekkingTragedy. My observations:

Bangalore being a small town, been getting messages from those known to the deceased. Unfortunately I had to explain that the area of tragedy is far from where I live. So little I could do to personally help. Been pointing people to the right persons.

This tragedy was preventable - I'll tell you why:

- Altitudes between 14-16,000 ft can see snowfall and major hailstorms till the onset of monsoon, which brings warm rain. Which is why local shepherds only venture above 14k feet when monsoon begins in the first week of July - it's safe. I lead treks in these altitudes and follow the shepherd calendar - only between July 1st week to the end of September. It's a tried and trusted calendar over generations. Traditional knowledge rules in the mountains. My advice to hikers has been for years to follow this. Nobody listens, they venture into snowbound glaciated terrain and get trapped when the weather turns. Hypothermia is a killer. A 15C day can turn into -5C in these altitudes in less than an hour in the wrong season.

- Guide/Porter : Guest Ratio: This is critical when going above 12,000 ft. I cap my maximum at 12 guests. This tragedy trip apparently had 22 guests. You need to remember at these heights you need 2 able bodied persons minimum to help one ailing person. The formula I follow when going above 12,000 ft is to ensure I have 1 guide + 1 porter/helper for every 3 guests i.e. I will have 8 staff available for 12 guests. This ensures that guests can be attended to in an emergency adequately. This pushes up cost significantly but safety margin is phenomenal = peace of mind for all. Everyone in the hiking industry reduces cost by compromising safety. Don't travel with any operator above 12,000ft who compromises safety. Ask for this ratio.

Forgot to add: none of my guests carry their luggage. We always use mules or porters for baggage. That is a key to prevent exhaustion. However fit you are, you are not mountain people - carrying a load at high altitudes is not advisable. More details on the harrowing night of June 3 in the #TrekkingTragedy here:

Adds to my observations:

Storm started at 3.30 pm approximately. This is how summer thunderstorms happen in the Himalayas.

Must have been a balmy 15-18C till then with nobody wearing layers as it's warm.

When it started snowing, they must have worn waterproof outer but not layered warm. Waterproof outer, snow will melt on falling and soak it. Lethal later when wind starts as no base layers underneath to keep body warm. Body will rapidly cool.

*** I am hearing from WhatsApp sources that there was no guide available at this point to help and advise the trekkers on the right course of action. Guide had apparently shown path and left for campsite ahead earlier ***

Proper blizzard and clouds. Whiteout. Path covered by snow rapidly. Trekkers lose sense of direction. My question: did they have lunch that day? If they haven't had a lunch, then exhaustion will make disorientation worse. Low sugar + low oxygen is a deadly combination that reduces mental faculties.

Trekkers decided to shelter outdoors without food or adequate layers. Was the rock used for shelter cutting the wind? If not, then hypothermia is inevitable without a tent or tarp shelter to block wind. Bad bad decision. Calories needed to stay warm even with layers is 2-3X of normal. Body internal heater needs calories to function. Exhaustion and panic leads to more calories burned. People who are tired and mentally not in capacity to function would not have opened bags and layered up. In fact I would say in such a situation wear everything you have, including plastic bags and even try to tie your empty rucksack to yourself in the direction of the wind - everything helps survive. It's a downward spiral sadly from here as some people tragically didn't survive the night.

This is so heartbreaking to read. Completely preventable.thehindu.com/news/national/…

What's the 'city with best weather in India' gotta do with Bangalore drowing in floods today and every single time the city faces a massive downpour...

Read on, a thread... Back when I was a young and broke journalist in 2004, I saw the city expanding breakneck around me. Then one day I came across a report on surface water around Bangalore (can't remember whose report it was) while researching about groundwater scarcity in the city.

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The patient came from far away with two attendants. Pre-op was done and patient admitted day before surgery. Few hours after admission. Lower level staff in the hospital started murmuring in the patient and the attendants ears that the surgery day was some holiday and surgery might have to be postponed.

Yes, finished watching #SacredGamesSeason2 yesterday. My review of the 'nuclear side' of the plot...

#SpoilerAlert

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Unfortunately, the writers seem to have lost the plot and instead of focusing on...

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Lots of stuff to pen down about the trip, follow this thread.. Landing in Colombo, it's super easy to get a local SIM card and cheap (INR 750 roughly for my entire 10 days). Something for @incredibleindia to emulate? And Uber works from the airport to Negombo/Colombo (I learned this on the return), 50% cheaper than airport taxis

Why did the tiger sleep in the bed? Because his grandad slept in the same high ground when there was flood a few decades ago. This (1/20) is probably the image that is going to define this year's flooding in the Brahmaputra valley. Rewind about 10 years, I spent about (2/20)