Sikkim flood victim says her house washed away within 30 minutes after warning

At least 14 persons were killed and another 120 people, including 23 army personnel, went missing after a flash flood hit north Sikkim in the early hours of Wednesday

Mina Tamang, 70, a resident of Singtam in Sikkim had never imagined that Teesta River would cross all its limits and render her homeless in less than 30 minutes of receiving a warning. But that’s what literally happened with her on Wednesday.

Six bridges and several houses have been washed away in Sikkim following the flash floods. (PTI)

At least 14 persons were killed and another 120 people, including 23 army personnel, went missing after a flash flood hit north Sikkim in the early hours of Wednesday. Six bridges and several houses have been washed away. According to people familiar with the matter, the death toll is expected to rise sharply.

A heart patient, Mina, her son, pregnant daughter-in-law and two grandchildren had been staying in their three storied house near Teesta River bank at Singtam Bazar.

Mina said, “We received a warning saying that water level in Teesta River was increasing and we need to move into safer places. Immediately we came out and within 30 minutes of the warning, everything was gone. We could not take out anything and our building got washed away in no time.”

“How and why did this happen? Every year, Teesta’s water level used to rise during monsoon, and we never thought that it would cross all the limits and make many of us homeless.”

Pratima Chettri, another resident of Singtam Bazar said: “We received a warning at 1.30pm. At 3pm Indreni Bridge got washed away by Teesta. More than 15 houses were also washed away. We could come out with only the clothes we were wearing and everything else got lost. We had never imagined that a catastrophe of such a magnitude would hit us and render us homeless in no time.”

Singtam is one of the commercial hubs of Sikkim. The Teesta River originating in North Sikkim flows through places like Chungthang, Mangan, Dikchu and Singtam. From Singtam, the river flows towards Rangpo and from there, enters Melli. At Chungthang, the dam and the bridge of the 1200-MW Sikkim urja hydro power project got washed away.

“The dam located at Chungthang got washed away in ten minutes just after 12 midnight. We also saw that the 200-metre-long bridge connecting the powerhouse has been washed away. The entire powerhouse has been submerged under water.” said Sunil Saraogi, the executive chairman of Sikkim Urja Limited (formerly: Teesta Urja Limited).

It is also believed that the dam at Dikchu, a part of the Sikkim hydro power project, has also suffered damages. But no one could ascertain it.

Biren Gurung a resident of Melli under Kalimpong district of West Bengal said: “At least 10 concrete houses got washed away in less than 30 minutes of water level in Teesta river started rising.”

Hem Kumar Chettri, a local man who was engaged in a rescue operation at Singtam said “At least 60 people stranded were rescued from their buildings. We had to break the first floors of many houses to rescue people trapped in the ground floors submerged by the rising Teesta River.

Stating that many people were still missing, Chettri said, “Though we heard the sound of people crying for help, when we reached the place, we did not find anyone. This leads us to believe that many people have been washed away at places like Singtam and upstream of Teesta River.”