COOCH BEHAR (The Thursday Times) — Districts in India’s West Bengal and Assam were put on high flood alert on Friday after a glacial lake burst in northern Bhutan and sent millions of cubic metres of water rushing down the Sankosh river towards the border.
The outburst struck Sintaphu Lake near Wakila mountain in the Laya area of Bhutan’s Gasa district, releasing about 7.4 million cubic metres of water into the Sankosh, according to Bhutanese media cited by The Indian Express.
West Bengal minister Nisith Pramanik urged people living near tea gardens and riverbeds in Cooch Behar and Tufanganj to evacuate immediately, warning of possible flooding along the Sankosh and Brahmaputra. Darjeeling MP Raju Bista said everyone in the catchment of the Sankosh and its tributaries had been told to move to safe zones, and asked residents of the Darjeeling hills, Terai and Dooars to stay alert.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the state was closely monitoring the possible impact on Dhubri and Kokrajhar districts and that its teams were in constant contact with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
NDRF Director General Piyush Anand said teams had been alerted and the force was coordinating with the Central Water Commission and the India Meteorological Department on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s instructions, but added that there was “no immediate cause for concern” on the information received so far.
Bhutan monitors 17 potentially dangerous glacial lakes, and the Sankosh, known in Bhutan as the Punatsangchhu, has flooded before: a 1994 glacial lake outburst on the river killed 21 people.
