2023-10-06 13:21:00
At least 40 people have died in a Himalayan valley in northeast India and thousands more are left homeless after flash floods caused by the overflowing of a glacial lake on Wednesday, according to a new report from authorities on Friday.
“Nineteen bodies have been found,” VB Pathak, the highest official in the state of Sikkim, told AFP.
In neighboring West Bengal, 21 other bodies have been found in the past three days, district magistrate Shama Parveen told AFP.
Lake Lhonak, which overflowed on Wednesday, causing significant destruction in a valley downstream, is located at the foot of a glacier near Kangchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world.
The previous death toll announced by authorities on Thursday was at least 14, but search and rescue teams downstream recovered more bodies overnight as the waters moved towards the Bay of Bengal.
Among the dead were six Indian army soldiers stationed in Sikkim, located on India’s remote border with Nepal and China and which has a significant military presence.
Nearly 8,000 other people took shelter in makeshift relief camps in schools, government offices and guest houses, according to a Sikkim state statement.
Mobilized army
With weather conditions improving on Friday, “there could be a window of opportunity to evacuate stranded tourists by helicopter,” the statement added.
A statement from the Indian army said that soldiers participating in the rescue operations were able to rescue nearly 1,500 tourists stranded in the areas worst hit by the floods.
Army helicopters were also dropping supplies to groups of stranded people, VB Pathak told reporters.
“We are making all possible efforts to provide relief materials to the populations and restore infrastructure,” he added.
A veritable wall of water poured into a river already swollen by monsoon rains. The waters damaged a dam and swept away buildings, homes, bridges and telephone lines, complicating evacuations and communication efforts with thousands of people isolated from the rest of the country.
Extensive damage extends more than 120 kilometers downstream, roads in the region are “severely” damaged and 14 bridges have been destroyed, according to authorities.
The floods have wreaked destruction in four districts of the state, washing away people, roads and bridges,” Himangsu Tiwary, an army spokesperson, told AFP.
Climate change in question
The Indian government said it had approved the release of funding for relief and recovery efforts. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised “all possible support” to the affected populations.
According to satellite images released by the Indian Space Research Organization, Lake Lhonak shrank by two-thirds after overflowing, losing a water area of about 105 hectares, the equivalent of 150 football fields.
Between 2011 and 2020, Himalayan glaciers melted 65% faster than in the previous decade, according to a report published in June by the Nepal-based International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD).
“The root cause is climate change and it will increase in the future,” Arun Bhakta Shrestha, climate change specialist at ICIMOD, told AFP.
“None of the scenarios are good,” he added. “Even the most modest scenario tells us that … such sudden glacial lake flood events are very likely.”
The average temperature on Earth’s surface has increased by almost 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, but high mountain regions around the world have warmed at twice the rate, climate scientists say.
06/10/2023 13:19:46 – Guwahati (Inde) (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
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