Kathmandu, August 21:

The technical team of the Ministry of Water Resources submitted its initial report today after inspecting the damaged section of the Saptakoshi embankment.

The report states that 70 per cent of Saptakoshi waters had been gushing into villages. However, discharge in the river, which was 1.68 lakh cusecs on August 18, had decreased to 1.3 lakh cusecs on August 20.

Two 190-m spurs and 1.5km section of the embankment had been damaged as of August 18. From Tuesday to Wednesday, further 50-metre section of the embankment was damaged.

The report stated that spurs located north of the damaged 1.5-km section were in need of repair, though they did not pose immediate threat. Three spurs at 16.40 km, 26.80 km and 27.10 km need to be repaired immediately, it said. Though the flow has receded, the spur at 13.6 km is in peril. The river has been gushing into western coast of Koshi.

According to an estimate, crops planted in 10,000 hectare of land have been damaged.