As many as 53 people, including seven soldiers, have been killed in
the Sikkim flash floods, with 27 more dead bodies found in Teesta River bed in
neighbouring West Bengal over the last three days. Seven of these bodies have
been identified.
More than 140 people are still missing, and thousands have been
displaced. The Sikkim Government has reported that 1,173 houses have been
severely damaged and 2,413 people have been rescued.
All bridges downstream to the Teesta-V hydropower station have been
submerged or washed out, disrupting communication to North Sikkim.
Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang chaired a high-level
meeting yesterday to chalk out rescue, relief, and restoration plans.
Priority has been given to opening the road connectivity up to
Chungthang, while the road from Naga to Toong will be built subject to the
availability of land as soon as possible.
Compensation of ₹ 4 lakh has been announced for the families of
those who have been killed.
Sikkim authorities are prioritising reopening road connectivity to
Chungthang and building the road from Naga to Toong subject to land
availability.
Throughout the day, officers from different departments met with
the Chief Secretary to update him on the status of road connectivity, relief
and rehabilitation, and rescue operations.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted light to
moderate rainfall in most places in Mangan district over the next five days,
with generally cloudy to overcast skies in Lachen and Lachung. This makes
airlifting over 3,000 stranded tourists challenging.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has reported that multiple attempts to
carry out rescue and relief operations with Mi-17 helicopters have been
unsuccessful for the past two days due to bad weather, low cloud cover, and low
visibility in the Lachen and Lachung valleys. The aerial rescue operations are
expected to resume early morning today if the weather permits.
Flash floods cloudburst have ravaged the Northeastern State,
affecting over 25,000 people, damaging nearly 1,200 homes, and destroying 13
bridges.
Rescue workers have saved 2,413 people so far, but 6,875 people
remain displaced and are sheltering in 22 relief camps across the state, which
is largely cut off from the rest of the country.
A glacial lake burst triggered flash floods and released water from
Chungthang Dam, drastically increasing the water level of the Teesta River on
Wednesday morning, causing widespread devastation in the picturesque Himalayan
state.
“Road connectivity between the districts has been cut off and
bridges have been washed away. Communication in North Sikkim has been severely
affected,” Chief Minister Tamang said, blaming “inferior construction” by the
erstwhile State governments for the destruction of the Chungthang Dam.
On Friday, a Parliamentary Committee had flagged a severe shortage
of meteorological and monitoring stations in the Himalayan regions.
On March 29, Sikkim was told in Parliament that it has 694 glacial
lakes and eight flood forecasting stations, three for water levels and five for
inflows.
Home Minister Amit Shah has approved the release of ₹ 44.8 crore in
advance from the central share of the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to
provide relief to people affected by the floods.
The Home Ministry has also formed an Inter-Ministerial Central Team
(IMCT) to visit the affected areas and assess the damage.
Agencies
