Water burst out of the Shintaphu glacial lake in Bhutan's Gasa district at around 8:15 pm on Thursday, sending a flood down the Mo Chhu. According to the Bhutan Broadcasting Service and Nepali outlets, it washed away the Gasa Tshachu hot springs, damaged solar irrigation systems in Punakha, and carried off sections of the Punakha–Gasa highway and the road to Laya, leaving the Laya region with no road link to the rest of Bhutan. No casualties had been reported as of Friday. Bhutanese authorities closed the road and moved security personnel and others out of at-risk areas; the volume of water and the full damage are still being assessed.
The water flows on through the Sankosh River into India. Alerts were raised in Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal and Dhubri in Assam, and West Bengal Forest Minister Manoj Kumar Oraon urged riverside residents to move to safety if needed. More than 10,000 people in Alipurduar have been moved to safe places and relief camps, with national and state disaster response forces deployed, Nagarik News reported.
1 article
A flood from Bhutan's Shintaphu glacial lake has cut off the Laya region by road and washed away the Gasa Tshachu hot springs, with no casualties reported. Downstream in India, more than 10,000 people in Alipurduar have been moved to relief camps, Nagarik News reported.
Read the full report
