Approximately 14 people lost their lives and 102 were no longer found on Thursday after extreme downpours led to a Himalayan glacial lake in northeast India to burst its banks, the most traumatic disaster in the area in more than five decades. The Lhonak Lake in Sikkim state burst its banks on Wednesday leading to extreme flooding, which authorities said had made an impact on the lives of 22,000 people.
It is the recent dangerous weather occasion in South Asia’s mountains being blamed on climate transformation. The weather department said Sikkim got 101 mm (4 inches) of downpour in the first five days of October, exceeding than double normal levels, leading to floods worse than one in October 1968 in which an estimated 1,000 people lost their lives. The department has forecasted extreme downpour over the next three days in parts of Sikkim and adjacent states.
The recent flooding was exacerbated by water released from state-run NHPC’s Teesta V dam, local officials said. Four of the dam’s gates had been washed away and it was not clear why they had not been opened in time, a government source revealed Reuters. As of early Thursday, the state disaster management agency revealed that 26 people have got injuries brutally and 102 were not being found even after so many attempts of locating them, 22 of whom were army personnel. Eleven bridges had been washed away, causing hindrances in rescue operations which were already impacted by extreme downpour.
Authorities in adjacent Bangladesh were on alert with a state-run water development board official warning that five districts in the northern part of the nation could be highly under danger and impacted with an increase in the level of the Teesta River, which enters Bangladesh downstream of Sikkim. “Continued attempts are on to bring out vehicles submerged under the slush at Burdang nearby Singtam. The investigation for not found persons is currently targetting in the regions downstream of Teesta river,” an Indian defence spokesperson said.