This and that...

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Rainfall data (Jun2008) and a brief analysis:-


Heavy rainfall days

1. 16Jun – 4mm
2. 17Jun- 92mm
3. 18Jun- 127mm
4. 19Jun- 56.89mm
5. 20Jun- 59.9mm
6. 21Jun- 3mm (Eden Hospital building, Darjeeling develops cracks)
7. 24Jun – 2mm
8. 25Jun – 6.09mm
9. 26Jun- 17.01mm
10. 27Jun- 56.89mm
11. 28Jun- 17mm
12. 29Jun- 38.1mm ( Rock slide in Mamring, Kurseong)
13. 30Jun- 45.9mm

Total= 525.78mm

Deduction

We received 67.9% of the total monthly rainfall in just 13 days and that too in the latter half of June. The remaining 32.1% of the rain was distributed over 17 odd days.

The landslide occurrence in Jun08 coincides with this observation.

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Excerpt from Telegraph 03Jul08

Slides block NH31A

OUR CORRESPONDENT

Kalimpong, July 2: A series of landslides following heavy overnight rain disrupted traffic on NH31A, the road linking Siliguri with Kalimpong and Sikkim, today.

The landslides, which started around 3am, have thrown slush and boulders from the hillside on a 50-metre-stretch of the road at 28 Mile, around 25km from here, causing huge traffic blocks at either end of the damaged area.

Officials of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), which maintains the highway, said efforts to restore traffic movement were hampered as mud and rocks continued to come down from the hillside throughout the day.

Although several trees were uprooted and fell across the highway, they were later removed.

Light vehicles started moving around 4pm, but heavy vehicles were yet to be given passage. Many vehicles were re-routed via Rambi-Mungpoo-3 Mile-Peshok-Teesta and 27 Mile-Takdah-6 Mile-Peshok-Teesta, which means travellers had to spend four hours, instead of two hours, to reach Kalimpong from Siliguri. Some vehicles also took the road via Lava, which, too, takes two extra hours.

The closure of the road had an immediate impact here with one of the two petrol pumps in town running out of fuel around 9 in the morning after the tanker bringing in oil got stuck in the traffic jam.

As the road communication was thrown out of gear, Kalimpong residents have had to do without newspapers as vehicles carrying them, too, were stranded in the traffic snarl.

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a) Photo credit - Bhushan Chettri, Kurseong

b) Rainfall data is of Darjeeling town and courtesy Compuset Centre, Darjeeling

praful rao