An early warning system for glacial floods was due to have been installed in the Indian Himalayas last year, but work on the project only began in September, officials said, too late to raise the alarm before last week's floods that killed dozens.
Reuters first reported that scientists were working on an early warning system at Lhonak Lake in the northeastern state of Sikkim which if fully operational could have given people more time to evacuate when the lake overflowed and triggered flash floods.
But the project began just weeks before the floods killed at least 60 people and left more than 100 missing because Indian authorities could not organise an expedition to the site last year as planned, the officials said.
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In recent years, glacial flood early warning systems have been deployed in China, Nepal, Pakistan and Bhutan as climate change has raised the risks of flooding.
The Lhonak Lake system is a pilot project being executed with the help of Swiss agencies, with India’s National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) as the main coordinator.
NDMA member Krishna S. Vatsa said there was a delay as it was a complex expedition for several reasons, including the fact that the lake, high in the mountains on India’s border with China, is accessible only from July to September.
“It was a large inter-agency expedition, which could not be organised last year and had to be done this year, because...
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