All 56 gates of Koshi Barrage opened, bridge closed to heavy vehicles

By Binay Karna,Saptari, (Kalyanpur), Oct. 6: After the Saptakoshi River, located between the Saptari-Sunsari border, reached its highest water flow of the year on Sunday morning, all 56 gates of the Koshi Barrage were opened, and the movement of heavy vehicles has also been banned.

The last time all 56 gates were opened was at 9:00 am on Sunday morning when the water flow was 431,525 cusecs per second. The Koshi Barrage Control Room has said that the water flow has increased further to 510,960 cusecs per second by 11:00 am.

The total carrying capacity of the Koshi Barrage is 900,000 cusecs per second. As the water flow in the Koshi continued to increase, the police blocked the bridge and closed the traffic, informed Gautam Kumar KC, Deputy Superintendent of Police at the District Police Office, Saptari. 

He said that the district police administration is on high alert regarding the risk that the rain may bring to the Koshi Barrage, where a red flag and red lights are lit as a sign of danger, and the surrounding residents have been warned through mic to be on high alert.

This is the sixth time in the history of the Koshi Barrage that all 56 gates have been opened. Previously, in 1968, all 56 gates have been opened when the water flow reached 788,200 cusecs in 1968, 523,000 cusecs in 1987, 473,000 cusecs in 2023, and when the water flow reached 661,000 cusecs per second in 2024.