From the Telegraph today : Good news for the Heritage Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR)

Tindharia tracks to open soon

Siliguri, Dec. 15: The toy train tracks at Tindharia have been relaid soon and service from Siliguri to Gayabari is set to resume later this month. “We plan to resume the service to Gayabari with a big bang. A special train will be operated from Siliguri Junction till Gayabari (34km) on that day. The date will probably be December 26. The work of relaying tracks at Tindharia has more or less been completed. We plan to conduct a trial run on the newly laid tracks this week,” Arun Kumar Sharma, the divisional railway manager of Katihar division of Northeast Frontier Railway, said over the phone from Katihar today. A landslide at Paglajhora on NH55 in June 2010 disrupted the services from Siliguri to Kurseong. STH has covered this issue extensively earlier - see here Praful Rao, Kalimpong, Dist Darjeeling

STH stormwatch (13Dec2013) : Remnants of Cyclone 'Madi' crossover to the Arabian Sea.

IMD update
Time of issue: 0830 hours IST Dated: 13 December, 2013
Bulletin No: BOB08/2013/47
Sub: Depression weakened into a well marked low pressure area
'The Depression over Tamil Nadu moved westwards, weakened into a well marked low pressure area over southeast Arabian Sea and adjoining Kerala at 0530hrs IST of the 13th December. The system would move further westwards and weaken gradually.'

Praful Rao,

Kalimpong,

Dist Darjeeling

STH stormwatch (11Dec2013) : Cyclone 'MADI' downgraded further into a depression

Cyclone 'MADI' has now been downgraded to a deep depression and is likely to lose strength further to become a depression in the next 6 hrs.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH stormwatch (Cyclone 'MADI') update : 'Very Severe' loses strength to become 'Severe'

The above satellite IR (infra red) image from Kalpana I (of 5.30 pm IST today) is updated by IMetD at every 30mins here

Praful Rao
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH stormwatch (Cyclone 'MADI' update) : New forecast tracks from JTWC for 'MADI'

JTWC has updated its forecast track of Very Severe Cyclone 'MADI', which now is expected to recurve on a south south westerly course and head towards Tamil Nadu, weakening as it does so.
Landfall is expected around 13Dec2013.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH stormwatch (08/09Dec2013) : Severe cyclone 'MADI' update

'MADI' meaning 'Ray' in Maldivian, is the fourth cyclone (after Phailin, Helen, Lehar) to have formed in the Bay of Bengal in the last 2 months - it is also the fifth named cyclone in the bay in 2013.
As per IMD :
'Severe Cyclonic storm 'MADI' over southwest Bay of Bengal would intensify into a Very Severe Cyclonic storm during the next 24 hrs. It would move slowly nearly northwards'

Update of 09Dec2013

' The Very Severe Cyclone ‘MADI’ …would gradually weaken from tomorrow and move northwards slowly for 36h and then west south westwards. '
 

Praful Rao
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling.

STH stormwatch (07Dec2013) : Severe Cyclone 'MADI' heads north

The depression has now intensified into severe cyclone 'MADI' and  as per IMetD
(evening bulletin of 07Dec2013) :
'it would further intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm within the next 24hrs. It would move nearly northwards very slowly during the next 48hrs and then recurve north- northeast wards'
For those interested in details see here  for IMetD and here for the JTWC updates.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling

STH stormwatch 06Dec2013 :Depression in Bay Bengal.

IMetD - All India Weather Bulletin (Night)

• The depression over southwest Bay of Bengal remained  practically stationery and lay centred near latitude 10.0° N and longitude 84.0° E, about 530 km southeast of Chennai.
• The  depression  over southwest Bay of Bengal would concentrate into a  deep depression  during next 24 hours and subsequently into a cyclonic storm. It would move nearly northwards slowly during next 48 hours and then recurve north northeastwards. 

Rohan Rao,

Kalimpong,

Dist-Darjeeling 

Email- rohan.rao1313@gmail.com                                                                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

30Nov2013 - 02Dec2013 : FOSEP : Workshop on " Climate Change and Mountain Areas - Awareness, Adaptation and Sustainability"

STH attended a three day workshop organised by FOSEP ( Federation of Societies for Enviromental Protection) from 30Nov2013 - 02Dec2013 on "Climate Change and Mountain Areas" . The workshop focused primarily on issues plaguing the Sub Himalayan region with the most prominent figure amongst the speakers being Dr.PG Dhar Chakrabarti Executive Director National Institute of Disaster Management (Retd.) and Ex secretary of the NDMA ( National Disaster Management Authority) who gave a presentation on DRR ( Disaster Risk Redection) and CCA ( Climate Change Adaptation ). The Other topics covered were:

• Problems and potentials of medicinal plants and agriculture in the Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya - Dr.G.S Yonzone
• Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture in the Darjeeling SikkimHimalaya - Shri M.L Acharya
• Climate change and its impact on the tea estates of Darjeeling District - Dr. Abdul Hannan (Asst. Professor Sikkim university)
• Nature's retaliation - Dr. P.K Chhetri (Ex Joint Secretary West Bengal)
• Medicinal plants, enviroment, economic development and policies - Himalayan context -Dr. H.K Badola ( Sr. Scientist - Govind Ballabh Pant Institute Of Himalayan Enviroment and Development.)
• Rhododendron of the Eastern Himalayas - Dr K.K Singh ( Scientist - Govind Ballabh Pant Institute Of Himalayan Enviroment and Development.)
• Livelihood and Climate change - Dr Uttam Lal (Asst. Professor Sikkim university)   

We'd like to to thank FOSEP for inviting us to be a part of this very informative event.

Rohan Rao, 

Kalimpong,

Dist-Darjeeling,

Email - rohan.rao1313@gmail.com                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Geological Survey of India (GSI) visit - Kalimpong 2013

Mr Debashish Bhattacharya Senior Geologist from GSI (Geological Survey of India) is in Kalimpong until tommorow 04Dec2013. The Scientist was here around the same time last year in 2012, during which STH had accompanied him on recce trips to most of the landslide affected places in Kalimpong. 

The monsoon season in 2013 was a rather mild one and there were hardly any new landslides this year and most of the major landslide zones from the years before showed very little signs any fresh activity. We have been with the geologist since the 28Nov2013 and will be going on our last field visit today 03Nov2013 to Nimbong, Suruk and Samthar villages.

Rohan Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist-Darjeeling,
Email - rohan.rao1313@gmail.com