Rain wreaks havoc in north Bengal, Sikkim

TT, 27 May 2020, Siliguri/Gangtok: A sudden bout of storm damaged agriculture crops and houses at a number of places in Malda, Cooch Behar and Alipurduar districts on Monday.

In Sikkim. consistent rain caused by an east-west trough at mean sea level that is running from east Uttar Pradesh to Nagaland across Bihar, sub-himalayan Bengal and Assam triggered landslides at multiple places in the past two days.

The landslides also resulted in the death of at least three persons and damage to properties. Two villages in north Sikkim, Sakyong and Pentong th Dzongu, were completely cut off from the rest of the state.

While a 50-year old woman died at Lingchom village, an elderly couple are feared to have been killed when their hut was swept away in a landslide at Bey in Upper Dzongu on Sunday.

Both the places are in north Sikkim.

Landslides have also taken place in different parts of north and east Sikkim districts, damaging houses and water pipelines and uprooting trees and electric and telephone posts.

The areas in east Sikkim where numerous major and minor landslides occurred include Tashi View Point, Bhojoghari, Lower Burtuk, Raigoan, Banjhakri, Lingdok. Ranka, BAC, Kyongnosla GPU, Rongey, Meerung, Chandmari and Sichey.

Water supply to Gangtok and the surrounding areas was affected because of the damage caused to pipelines and water sources.

In Malda, state forest minister Rajib Banerjee arrived on Tuesday to take a stock of the situation. He visited some of the affected areas and spoke to officials in the district administration.

The storm has come as a second blow for mango cultivators of the district. Last week, they had lost around 36,000 metric tons of mangoes in Cyclone Amphan. The latest storm might result in a loss of another 14,000 metric tons of the fruit.

Two persons have lost their lives in Malda in the storm.

"I have been deputed by the chief minister to assess the damage caused by recent storms. After getting a report from the district administration, I would submit the same to the state government? Banerjee said.

In Alipurduar, the storm damaged more than 300 huts in Falakata and Madarihat blocks. Also, 18 persons suffered injuries in the storm that occurred on Monday night. Electricity has got snapped in most areas and a number of trees got uprooted and blocked rural roads.

Similar is the situation in Dinhata 1 and Tufanganj 1 blocks of Cooch Behar district where corn and vegetable cultivations were affected in the storm.

Over 100 houses were damaged when trees fell on them. The administration is yet to make an estimate of the total loss.