Chandigarh, September 19— For the first time in its history, the Sukhna Lake floodgates have been opened 11 times in a single season, officials said Thursday, after the water level rose above the danger mark of 1,163 feet following overnight rainfall in the catchment area.
The Union Territory engineering department confirmed that one of the three floodgates was raised around 4 a.m. to release excess water into the Ghaggar river through Sukhna Choe. The gate was shut at about 12:30 p.m., once the level receded to 1,162.95 feet.
“This is unprecedented,” an official noted, pointing out that staff have been deployed at the regulatory end of the lake round-the-clock, with CCTV cameras set up for continuous monitoring.
The floodgates have been operated repeatedly this monsoon: earlier on September 6, 3, and 1, and on August 30, 29, 19, 17, 15, 8 and 6. In comparison, they were opened only four times in 2023, six times in 2022, and five times in 2021.
In August 2020, the opening of two floodgates had triggered flooding in Zirakpur’s low-lying areas along the Sukhna Choe. Before that, on September 24, 2018, the gates had been operated after a decade-long gap.
