Flash Flood: Search On As 76 Still Missing, 36 Dead In Sikkim, 41 In West Bengal

36 persons have died and 76 people are still missing from four districts of Sikkim, after a massive flash flood wrecked the state in the early hours of October 4.

PTI

The Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams and IAF which are working with the civil administration will continue operations till further required.

Sikkim flash flood: Updates

These are the updates of the rescue and search operations in Sikkim following the flash flood:

Tourists evacuated from flood-affected Lachen arrive in North Sikkim/ PTI

1. The Indian Air Force (IAF) began rescue operations on Monday. It has evacuated 690 people, including 26 foreigners, from the Lachen and Lachung towns in North Sikkim.
2. For rescue, the Mi-17 V5, CH-47 Chinooks and Cheetah helicopters were deployed by the IAF.
3. On Tuesday itself, a total of 176 tourists were airlifted from North Sikkim.
4. Further, 499 people were shifted from North Sikkim to Mangan by other modes of transportation, from where they left for Gangtok in state-run buses and private taxis, Chief Secretary VB Pathak said.
5. Till today, 36 bodies have been found in Sikkim, while 41 bodies have been found at various places along the river in neighbouring West Bengal.

What is a glacial lake outburst flood?

A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas in a very short span of time, under six hours, and is a highly localised phenomenon.

In Sikkim, the flash flood was brought about by a sudden outburst of Lhonak Lake - a glacial lake in North Sikkim. Many attributed this to a cloudburst over the lake.

Further, release of water from Chungthang Dam exacerbated the situation and the water level rose to as much as 15-20 feet high downstream.

Aftermath of the flash flood in Sikkim/ AP

After the natural disaster, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) revealed that in early September it had surveyed two lakes (one of them being the Lhonak lake) in order to deploy early warning systems for real-time alerts in the event of glacial lake outbursts.

A glacial lake outburst flood is a type of outburst flood caused by the failure of a dam containing a glacial lake.

However, in the aftermath of the disaster, people are now questioning why there wasn't an early warning system in place already since the Lhonak lake was known to be at-risk.

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