(Guwahati) At least 77 people died in a Himalayan valley in northeast India after flash floods caused by the overflowing of a glacial lake on Wednesday, according to a new report released on Sunday by the authorities.
In Sikkim, “twenty-nine bodies were recovered from different places,” state official Anilraj Rai told AFP.
In neighboring West Bengal, 48 other bodies were found, Jalpaiguri district police told AFP.
More than 100 people are still missing, according to the latest report.
Water levels along the Teesta River have returned to normal, four days after flash floods triggered by the overflowing of a glacial lake, an official at the state disaster control center told AFP of Sikkim.
Lake Lhonak, which overflowed on Wednesday, causing significant destruction in a valley downstream, is located at the foot of a glacier near Kangchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world.
PHOTO FRANCIS MASCARENHAS, REUTERS
A bus is covered in debris caused by flash floods after a lake overflowed in Rangpo on October 8.
Bridges, roads and telephone lines have been washed away, further complicating evacuations.
More than 2,500 people have been rescued, but another 3,000 are still stranded in makeshift relief camps in the north of the state, after air rescue operations have been delayed by bad weather.
In total, more than 1,200 houses were damaged, according to the Sikkim state government.
The dead include eight Indian army soldiers stationed in Sikkim, located on India’s remote border with Nepal and China and which has a significant military presence.
India’s defense ministry said in a statement Saturday that floods had swept away “firearms and explosives” stored in military camps.
Between 2011 and 2020, Himalayan glaciers melted 65% faster than in the previous decade due to climate change, according to a report published in June by the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), based in Nepal.
The average temperature on Earth’s surface has increased by almost 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times, but high mountain regions around the world have warmed at twice the rate, climate scientists say.