Rain-swollen rivers flood Alipurduar - Houses and markets under water, one lakh people marooned

TT, Alipurduar, July 7: Over 50,000 people were affected by torrential rain and overflowing rivers in Alipurduar town today with houses and markets under water and public transport off the roads.

A boy rows a makeshift boat in the flooded Alipurduar town on Sunday. Telegraph picture

In Alipurduar subdivision, more than one lakh people were affected by the floods because of incessant rain in the past 48 hours and the rise of water level in a number of rivers, most of which originate in Bhutan.

The Met office in Jalpaiguri said Alipurduar town had received 244mm of rain for 24 hours till 8am today. The rainfall recorded here in the past 48 hours is 480mm.

The Met department said there was a warning for heavy to very heavy rain in isolated places in Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar districts of sub-Himalayan Bengal in the next 24 hours. Heavy rain is predicted at isolated places in Sikkim and Bihar also in the next 24 hours.

In Alipurduar, 17 of 20 wards were waterlogged and residents could not come out of their homes. Three rivers — Kaljani, Nonai and Dima — that flow through the municipal area have swelled.

Krishna Dey, a resident of ward XII, said: “I am seeing such a flood after so many years. My house is marooned and we can’t just come out. None of us, including my children, could go to toilet this morning. Water has entered the kitchen also and nothing could be cooked today. We are waiting for the water level to recede. But if it rains tonight, we will have to leave our house and take shelter in a higher building.”

Some parts of town are under 5ft of water. The authorities are using country boats to rescue the people and have installed pump sets to drain out water from Alipurduar.

“The affected people are being taken to shelters. Nine pump sets were pressed into service to empty water into the Kaljani river. When the water level in the river subsides, the town would also be cleared. We are distributing tarpaulin sheets and dry food among the affected people,” said Dipto Chatterjee, the chairman of Alipurduar municipality.

Five country boats were pressed into service to take the marooned people to shelters which operate from school buildings. Most of the roads, markets, the bus terminus and the park were inundated in Alipurduar. With roads under water, buses and other modes of public transport didn’t operate today. Today being Sunday, those from the nearby tea gardens were supposed to come to town for shopping, but they didn’t turn up.

Sources at the North Bengal Flood Control Commission said red signal had been raised in the unprotected areas (without embankments) of the Teesta and the Torsha and yellow signal in the protected areas of both the rivers. Yellow signal has also been raised along the banks of the Sankosh, Rydak I, Rydak II, Kaljani, Mujnai and the Basra, all of which flow from Bhutan.

Most of the villages in Alipurduar block I and block II were affected by the rain. Sources said some 5,000 families were affected by the floods in the two blocks. Six-seven villages were flooded in the Kumargram block as well.

In the past 24 hours, the rainfall recorded in Jalpaiguri town was 135mm, Falakata 278mm, Kumargram 181mm and Mathabhanga 116.20mm.

In Cooch Behar district also, around 4,000 families were affected by the raging Gadadhar and Kaljani rivers.