PTI
Kolkata/Guwahati
West Bengal shifted 12,000 people living along the Sankosh in Alipurduar district to safety, while Assam closely monitored the situation in vulnerable areas of Dhubri and Kokrajhar districts after the river’s water level rose following a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) in adjoining Bhutan, officials said.
Water level in the Sankosh, which forms the inter-state boundary between Assam and West Bengal, rose by nearly two feet since this morning after a glacial lake in Bhutan’s Gasa region burst its banks on Thursday evening, unleashing a massive volume of water mixed with mud, rocks and debris into the downstream river systems, they said.
Nearly 7.4 million cubic metres of water surged out of the breached Shintaphu Lake in Bhutan into the Mo river, causing an increase in Sankosh’s water level.
“We have shifted 12,000 people to safer areas as a precautionary measure. The situation is under control at present,” an Alipurduar district official told PTI.
The incident triggered flood alerts in parts of north Bengal and Assam, with authorities keeping a close watch on the water levels of rivers flowing down from the Himalayan kingdom.
Sikkim, which witnessed massive devastation and loss of many lives in a glacial lake outburst flood in October 2023, however, remained unaffected in this disaster.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel have been deployed in the affected areas in Alipurduar.
, while teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Civil Defence and local administration are also being mobilised to strengthen the emergency response, the official said.
“We are closely monitoring the water level and flow of the Sankosh River, while maintaining communication with officials in Bhutan to assess developments and obtain updates on the situation,” he said.
There have been no reports of major damage or casualties in the Sankosh-adjoining Kumargram area of Alipurduar so far, he added.
Bhutan-originating rivers flowing through Jalpaiguri district, on the other hand, did not witness any water surge owing to the GLOF, another official said.
Block officials made precautionary announcements through public address systems at Banarhat on Thursday night following the GLOF alert as Bhutan-originating rivers flow through the area, prompting some people living near the rivers to shift to safer places.
“There has been no impact of the GLOF on the rivers flowing through Jalpaiguri,” the district official said.
