ITANAGAR, 27 Jun: The North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) Ltd clarified that the 24 June flash flood in the residential colony of the Panyor Lower hydropower station in Keyi Panyor district was triggered by a localised intense rainfall and was not related to the operation of the reservoir and the power house of the project.

According to the NEEPCO, the incident commenced at around 3 am after heavy rainfall over a small catchment in and around the project area. The rainfall caused two small streams near the administrative and dam site colony to overflow, which washed away 24 residential buildings and damaged several others, it said.

“As per the preliminary assessment, the sequence of events shows that the incident was due to localised heavy rainfall and not because of any sudden increase in flow from upstream of the river,” the NEEPCO stated in a release.

Further, the early warning system established for rainfall and reservoir inflow forecasting for the project did not record any high rainfall or high discharge during the period of the incident, it said.

“The incident was in no way related to the operation of reservoir and power house of the project. No impact has been reported in the downstream areas of the project as a result of this incident,” the release added.