Incessant rainfall triggers multiple landslides in the Hills

Amitava Banerjee | MP | 2 Sept 2022 | Darjeeling: Incessant rainfall has triggered multiple landslides in the Hills of West Bengal and Sikkim. 

The Indian Army rescued 78 stranded tourists from Yumthang Valley in North Sikkim. Traffic on National Highway 10, the lifeline to Sikkim was disrupted on Thursday owing to multiple slides owing to incessant rainfall throughout the night. Darjeeling Himalayan Railway services to and from New Jalpaiguri were suspended owing to landslides in the Siliguri-Kurseong section. 

The NH 10 was blocked at 20th Mile in between Singtam and Rongpo in Sikkim at around 1pm on Thursday but resumed later with the debris being cleared. The Legship-Jorethang highway in Sikkim also remained closed owing to landslides. On August 31 at 11:30 am, two trucks of the Indian Army were traveling from Yumthang towards Lachung in North Sikkim. At a place 4 km South of Yumthang, a massive landslide occurred due to sudden glacial lake burst, stated an Army release.

The Army vehicles got stuck, however, the troops managed to come out through chest deep mud. They immediately went back, halted the tourist vehicles which were following, and took them back to the nearest Army Camp at Shiv Mandir. The tourists, including 8 women, 2 infants and 68 men were provided food and elderly were offered medical care. 

The troops vacated their accommodation to make arrangements for their stay. Additional troops and earth movers of the Border Road Organisation got into action at the site. By 5 pm, it was possible to create a path to cross the site on foot. 

All the tourists were brought back to the site, leaving the vehicles behind, all the people were assisted to cross over and on the other side, Army and BRO vehicles received them and took them to Lachung. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR) services to and from NJP was suspended owing to NJP. "There were two slides, one at Rongtong and the other at Tindharia. While the NJP- Darjeeling service was cancelled, the Darjeeling-NJP train plied till Kurseong. The debris is being cleared. However if the rains continue the services will stand cancelled on Friday also," stated AK Mishra, Director, DHR. 

http://www.millenniumpost.in/kolkata/incessant-rainfall-triggers-multiple-landslides-in-the-hills-491630