About 56 bodies have been recovered so far during flooding with dozens missing and over a thousand tourists stranded in Sikkim, India’s North Eastern state, surrounded by Himalayas from the northern, eastern and western borders.
A glacial lake overflowed and flooded the Teesta River in Sikkim, (a River 414 km (257 mi) long that rises in the mountains of the Eastern Himalayas near Pauhunri (border of Sikkim, India and Tibet) and flows through the Indian states of Sikkim and West Bengal.
As per reports, the flooding washed away the Sikkim Urja hydroelectric dam at Chungthang, more than a dozen bridges, a sewerage treatment plant, and a highway and other roads.
Moreover, ongoing rescue operations have evacuated almost 2,500 people to safety, while thousands are in relief camps, the state government said.
A report by the Washington Post suggested that “substandard quality practices followed during the construction of the Chungthang Dam” resulted in “the flood situation taking a catastrophic turn.
The Himalayan regions are ecologically fragile to weather extremes. In July, about 100 died in heavy monsoon flooding in Himachal Pradesh state, surrounded by the Himalayan mountain ranges of Pir PirPanchal and Zanskar while bordering J&K.
