India issues flood alert in Himachal

Thousands of people were evacuated Sunday in India's northern Himachal Pradesh state after a breach in an artificial lake in neighbouring Tibet threatened downstream villages, officials said.

A flood warning was issued as the level of the Parechu river, which flows from China's Tibet to India, rose 40 to 50 feet (12-15 metres) after an artificial lake formed by a landslide breached its banks, said Amandeep Garg, a senior official in the Himachal Pradesh state government.

Indian officials evacuated residents in the Sutlej river valley, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the state capital Shimla, as a precaution, Garg said.

No injuries have been reported but Garg said three makeshift bridges were destroyed on Sutlej tributaries north of the town of Kalpa, the start of the Sutlej river valley in Himachal Pradesh.

By late Sunday the waters had reached the town of Rampur in the Sutlej river valley and flooded low-lying areas which had already been evacuated, a state official said.

"We have informed the Indian home ministry, just in case there is a further rise in the waters of the Sutlej and the army's help is needed," said Surjit Singh Parmar, the top official in the Himachal Pradesh state government.

India's federal cabinet held a meeting and put 30 air force helicopters on alert for any emergency rescue, according to a television report.

In August last year China warned that the lake in Tibet's Ali prefecture could burst through the landslide debris and release a torrent of water. The threat was averted as the lake froze in the winter.

"Although the river level will drop gradually downstream, we are taking no chances and have asked people to evacuate their homes in places close to the river banks," Garg said.

He said the sluice gates to the 1,500 megawatt Nathpa hydro power project downstream on the Sutlej had been partially opened to ease water pressure on the embankments.

Floods along the Sutlej killed nearly 150 people and left a trail of destruction five years ago.