KATHMANDU, Sept. 14 (Xinhua) -- Nepal's ability to monitor sudden rises in river levels suffered a major setback after the Aug. 26 flood swept away several hydrological monitoring stations, a government report said.
The report released on Sunday by the Centre for Hydrology and Water Resources Research (CHWRR) under the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) said the loss of these stations highlights the extreme nature of the flood and poses challenges for future monitoring in the region.
The report has found that monitoring stations located at Rasuwagadhi and Syaphru Besi in Rasuwa district, Betrawati in Nuwakot and Phurke Khola in Dhading were destroyed or rendered inoperative as the flood moved rapidly through the Bhote Koshi and Trishuli river corridors.
The destruction of the stations meant that water levels could no longer be continuously recorded at several critical points as the flood intensified downstream.
Seven days after the devastating flood, the Nepali authorities installed a flood monitoring system with a CCTV camera at Timure in Rasuwa to provide visual surveillance of river conditions.
According to the report, this is the first time Nepal has initiated a CCTV-based real-time river monitoring system, aimed at strengthening the country's capacity to detect sudden changes in river conditions and issue timely flood warnings. ■