Barak
Barak is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 24.86°, 93.40°
About Barak
The Barak River (Bengali: [bɔɾak], Sylheti: [bɔɾax]) is a trans-boundary river in India and Bangladesh. It flows 900 kilometres (560 mi) through the states of Manipur, Mizoram and Assam in India. It flows into Bangladesh where it bifurcates into the Surma River and the Kushiyara River which converge again to become the Meghna River before forming the Ganges Delta. Of its total length, 524 km (326 mi) is in India, 31 km (19 mi) in Bangladesh. The upper part of its navigable part is in India — 121 km (75 mi) between Lakhipur and Bhanga, declared as National Waterway 16, (NW-16) since the year 2016. It drains a basin of 52,000 km2 (20,000 sq mi), of which 41,723 km2 (16,109 sq mi) lies in India, 1.38% (rounded) of the country. The water and banks host or are visited by a wide variety of flora and fauna.
The principal tributaries are all in India: the Irang, Tuivai, Sonai (or Tuirial), the Jiri, the Tlawng (or Dhaleswari, or Katakal), the Jatinga, the Longai and the Madhura.
Tipaimukh Dam is a proposed dam on the river itself.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Barak River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Barak in Depth
Course
From its source at Liyai Kullen Village in the Senapati district of Manipur, where most people are of the Poumai Naga tribe, the river is known as Vourei. Near its source, the river receives streams such as the Vehrei originating from Phuba Village, the Gumti, Howrah, Kagni, Senai Buri, Hari Mangal, Kakrai, Kurulia, Balujhuri, Shonaichhari and Durduria.
It flows southwest in Manipur, until Tipaimukh, where it makes an almost 180-degree U-turn. Then it flows north until Jirimukh, and turns west flowing into the Cachar district of Assam. It enters Bangladesh at Bhanga Bazar.
Main tributaries
The local rainfall run off of the valley along with that of adjacent hilly areas flows through river Barak and its various tributaries and is drained out to Bangladesh. The Katakhal(Dhaleshwari), Jiri, Chiri, Modhura, Longai, Sonai, Rukni and Singla are the main tributaries of the valley. The tributaries are mainly rain-fed and cause flood problems when precipitation occurs. The Barak sub-basin drains areas in India, Bangladesh and Burma. The drainage area lying in India is 41723 km2 which is nearly 1.38% of the total geographical area of the country. It is on the north by the Barail Range separating it from the Brahmaputra sub-basin, on the east by the Na Lushai hills and on the south and west by Bangladesh.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Barak River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Barak: Key Facts
| Length | 900 km |
|---|---|
| Mouth | Bay of Bengal |
Facts from Wikidata Q1709169 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Barak: Quick Answers
- Where is Barak?
- Barak is located in India, at 24.8585° N, 93.4021° E.
- Are there dams on the Barak?
- No dam on the Barak is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.