Heavy rain in India forced a glacier lake to overflow and flood adjacent areas with ice-cold water, killing 40 people.
On Wednesday, Oct. 4, violent torrents struck the remote state of Sikkim following the sudden bursting of a high-altitude glacial lake in neighboring Nepal.
Floods washed away buildings and bridges on Wednesday, forcing hundreds of people to flee their homes in one of the region’s greatest tragedies in 50 years.
Damage to critical infrastructure and incessant rain have blocked off Gangtok and made rescue operations more difficult.
According to the Indian government, fifteen bridges in the state have been washed away, including all bridges downstream of an NHPC hydropower station Teesta-V.
“We are evacuating [people] through helicopters provided by the army and air force,” Sikkim state chief secretary Vinay Bhushan Pathak stated on Friday, Oct. 6.
Since Wednesday, almost 2,400 people have been rescued, and 26 injured persons have been sent to hospitals.
According to officials in the neighboring downstream state of West Bengal, emergency crews retrieved another 22 remains that had been washed away.
Rescue workers are still searching for nearly 100 people, including 23 army men.
According to a notification from West Bengal reported by the Press Trust of India, the bodies of four army servicemen have also been discovered. However, it was unclear whether or not they were among the 23 missing soldiers.
The army announced in a statement that one soldier who had gone missing on Wednesday had been rescued.
Climate scientists warn that as global temperatures increase and ice melts, comparable calamities will become more common across the Himalayas.
