ISLAMABAD: A massive Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) occurred in Hunza district’s Hassanabad village Saturday after the lake formed over the Shisper Glacier started discharging 5,000 cusecs of water owing to premature melting.
However, the flow of water reduced by Sunday morning, Hunza Deputy Commissioner Usman Ali said.
The official said that a temporary bridge will be built after the water completely drains out of the lake.
Speaking about the damages caused by the flooding, Ali said that a jamaat khana was partially damaged while the drinking and agricultural water system has been destroyed.
He further stated that 22 houses have been vacated and small vehicles are transported through Sharae Nagar.
Meanwhile, Adviser to Prime Minister on Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan Qamar Zaman Kaira spoke to the Gilgit-Baltistan chief secretary over telephone. The GB chief secretary briefed Kaira on the Hassanabad bridge collapse in Hunza.
Kaira issued directives to make all neccessary arrangements. He said that steps should be taken on priority basis to restore land connectivity and routine life in the surrounding areas.
Remote Sensing Specialist at the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development Dr Sher Mohammad, speaking about the causes of the flooding, said that the glacial lake size was 15% more than the recorded size for the last three years at the pre-outburst level of the lake.
He said the massive Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) in Hunza from Shishper Glacier was mainly triggered because of an abrupt temperature rise in the Northern Areas due to the prevailing heatwave phenomenon. He said that the glaciers were melting at a faster pace mainly due to heatwave, adding that in the last 20 days, there has been a 40% increase in the Shisper Glacier lake area due to expedited melting after heatwave impacts gripped the Northern Areas. Mostly, glacial lakes are formed in May but it got developed one month ahead in April.
Dr Sher said the Karakoram Highway Bridge was partially damaged due to the massive flooding that disconnected Gilgit and Hunza. It was the only major collateral damage reported due to GLOF, he said and added not only are glacial lakes rapidly forming in them, they are also appearing ahead of their normal time and bursting into floods.
Dr Sher Mohammad in his research has revealed that lakes on at least five glaciers appeared prematurely in the month of April and some of them have erupted where the water was running faster than usual. “We have been able to record only five glacial lakes due to continuous clouds, which are increasing but the number could be much higher.”
He underscored that there were supra-glacial lakes formed over vulnerable glaciers after rapid increase in temperatures and could become a lurking threat in the coming days as more increase in temperature would drive glacial flooding further.
He said satellite reports and images of the five glacier lakes could indicate that other glaciers in the area could also pose a threat to the lakes. “This is not usually the case in April and glaciers and lakes are recorded in the month of June or later, but temperatures above five degrees Celsius can cause a number of natural disasters,” he warned.
Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunhwa disaster management authorities were informed in time to take preventive measures to cope with imminent threat of GLOF in the region. The Hunza district administration officials, taking disaster preparedness measures, relocated the residents from vulnerable sites to safer places and were not facing any threat due to GLOF. The Gilgit-Baltistan district administration officials said that the glacial lake achieved flooding status at 7am on Saturday morning.
Earlier, Gilgit-Baltistan Disaster Management Authority (GBDMA) officials said that keeping in view the prevailing situation and expected GLOF risk, the GBDMA teams were well prepared and trained to carry out community sensitisation, local population’s relocation and food stockpiling 10 days ahead of the Met Office’s threat alert of GLOF.
Dr Sher Mohammad said that the Shisper Glacier had started surging in 2018 and breached thrice from 2019 to 2020. He said continuous monitoring was a key to developing well-informed preparedness plans and contingency measures to avoid massive life and property loss during the insurmountable natural hazard.
