Shruti Suman
Mishti Haldar, a 28-year-old resident of Matigara near Siliguri, woke up one Wednesday morning to a startling sight. The normally distant Teesta River was now almost at her doorstep, due to the flash floods in Sikkim and heavy rains. The river, which is typically around 250 meters away from her house, was carrying away tents, utensils, and even animal remains.
“The river swelled overnight because of the sudden flood came in Sikkim, inundating the low-lying areas of our district. Tents, likely belonging to tourists or military personnel upstream, were uprooted, and the debris floated by… It was an astonishing scene,” said Haldar, a homemaker.
As the floodwaters continued to rise, the police instructed her to evacuate to a nearby school, which was designated as a shelter.
“Many of us had to leave with just our suitcases, hoping that our homes would be spared,” she recalled.
Fortunately, by Thursday, the water levels subsided, allowing Haldar and many others to return home. However, numerous people remained stranded in the makeshift flood shelters set up by the state government.
An official from the Water and Irrigation Department explained that all the sluice gates of the Gajoldoba barrage on the Teesta River had to be opened to prevent further flooding.
The flash flood in Sikkim created chaos in various ways, leaving people stranded in both Sikkim and the plains of northern Bengal.
A group of tourists from Kolkata, on a motorcycle-cum-trekking adventure, found themselves stranded near Singtem without access to food or a way to return. The NH 10 highway, which connects Sikkim to the rest of India, had been washed away or had collapsed in different areas.
Rajib Bhattacharya, one of the stranded tourists, remarked, “At least we are safe and have managed to find shelter, which provided us with some noodles.” Meanwhile, Ramakant Yadav, a 33-year-old construction worker heading to Sikkim, was stuck at the New Jalpaiguri railway station along with eight of his colleagues.
They were among the hundreds of tourists, laborers, and students stranded at the railway station.
