Sikkim Flash Floods: Connectivity, Communication Break Down; Families Wait To Hear From Loved Ones

New Delhi [India]: Around midnight of October 3, locals in Chungthang town in Sikkim were told by authorities to relocate immediately due to the flash flood in the Teesta River in Lachen Valley and they vacated immediately with a few essential things they could carry, their families said.

Locals from nearby areas and different parts of the state are shocked by the situation on the ground and said they haven’t witnessed a disaster of this scale in their lifetime.

A glacial lake situated in the state’s northwest at 17,000 ft burst due to incessant rains, leading to the release of water in downstream areas. This caused the rise of water levels in the Teesta River that flooded at least four districts, including Mangan, Gangtok, Pakyong and Namchi on Wednesday.

Relatives of people living in the affected areas are waiting eagerly to hear from their loved ones.

media reached out to several locals in the state in the region through telephone to understand their plight.

Tseten Lepcha (60), who lives in Chungthang with his family, was out of town when the incident took place, however, his son, daughter-in-law and 8-month-old granddaughter were in the village.

“The last time my family communicated with them before they left at midnight with the family to a cousin’s house at Bop Village. This disaster is of unprecedented scale and worst case scenario for the area and people affected. We are shocked and helpless at the moment and very sad with the trauma and sense of loss experienced by all those who lost their houses and everything they had in it,” Lepcha told ANI on the telephone from Gangtok.

Lepcha said, “The magnitude of the damages to properties and lives are yet to be officially verified, but at least 50 houses have been completely damaged. Further, there are damages to the Army establishment particularly the ASC(food/fuel depot), the EME the Mechanical section), the workshop of the Border Road Organization (BRO), the energy and power complex, the industry department complex, the fire & Police station and Mobile network communication along with the water supply etc.”

At least 14 people have been killed and 104 are missing following flash floods in north Sikkim.

Mayalmit Lepcha, from Dzongu in Sikkim, said she was in Assam’s Siligudi when the incident happened and was unable to return home as all the roads leading to her village were disconnected.

“My heart aches for river Teesta and land. We have lost beautiful landscapes. I never saw a disaster of this level in the state. But we heard about floods from our grandfathers and grandmothers. This is devastating,” she added.

Mayalmit, who is an Environmental activist from Sikkim and vocal against dams in the region, alleged that the disaster has happened because of the unabated construction of dams and the landscape has been destroyed.

“The main reason for the disaster is the Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF). It is not because of the cloud burst. This disaster happened because the dam was washed away. A lot of property has been lost. There has been immense damage to aquatic life and fauna.

There have been rapid issues of rapid construction of dams. We have more than 13 big dams,” Mayalmit Lepcha from the Sikkim Indigenous Lepcha Tribal Association said.
Locals said that people who were relocated are residing in guest houses, hotels and along with their extended families in different villages.

“People do not know whether their families are fine or not as there has been a communication breakdown. There have been casualties but the gravity of the situation is yet to be known. We never saw something like this,” Dhan, a local from Dikchu, said.

“When we visited the area we saw the entire roads and highway washed away. The region is damaged. Several houses have suffered structural damages while others have been completely washed away,” he added.

Worried about the extent of damage, another local whose house was damaged due to flood, believes that it would take several months to return to normalcy.

“There is a lot of structural damage. It will take months to start life anew. Several areas have been completely washed away. This is the first time that army structures and buildings are gone too. There was an earthquake in 2011. However the damage was not of that scale,” Somal said.