16Aug2009 : 152mm rainfall and 6 deaths

Kurseong August 16:

Five persons including a 9 year old girl died when a hill side came tumbling down at Gauri Shanker tea estate’s pandhura village 2 km from here, Lower sirubari area and Phagutar area near Mahanadi last night due to the torrential rain that started occurring here since Saturday evening. The torrential rains have left all the three roads blocked, that connects Siliguri and Kurseong, at different points.

While Sachin Bhujel (32), Pratima Bhujel (30) and Urbashi Bhujel (9) are from a single Family another Kala Sherpa (40) is a resident of Lower Sirubari in the same tea estate area. “The incident occurred around 1:30 last night when the rains were heavy. The hill side came tumbling down when the three Bhujel’s were sleeping at their house. The hills came down so fast that neither of the three could try to escape it seems,” said Padam Thami a resident of the area adding that the two cows of the Bhujel’s was also buried in the debris.

Report and photos of Kurseong by Bhushan Chettri, STH member of the same place
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Comment by Praful Rao
As is evident from the previous post , our rainfall has been less than normal this year.
The worrying part is that a single day's rainfall amounting to approx 152mm can cause 6 deaths and numerous landslides all over the district.