Impact of the Oct 2023 Teesta Valley GLOF: Photosurvey of the Geil khola - Likhu bhir section of NH10 on 23Aug2024

NH10 winds itself along the banks of the Teesta river. Gangtok and Kalimpong are towards the right hand side whereas Siliguri is towards the left.

The monsoons have been playing truant in our region recently. Broadly speaking, after the heavy rains in Jun2024, going into mid July, we had less rain towards the latter part of July2024 and deficient rains in August2024.
The deficient rainfall is worrisome in terms of water availability in our region but has allowed the NH10 repairs to progress and yesterday (23Aug2024) the highway was declared open once more:

I photographed the Geil Khola - Likhu Bhir section on 23Aug2024 and have placed several large images of this area which has been one of the most troublesome part of NH10 for maintenance after the Oct 2023 Teesta Valley GLOF in the hope that it may benefit  researchers, engineers and especially lay people who use the highway. You might even like to compare these recent images with our report of the same area done on 18Oct2023.

With the river flowing 4-5m above pre-GLOF levels, it is now running close to the level of the road (and also closer to the IRCON tunnel as well), increasing erosion of the road and the maintenance problems. Teesta bridge is in the top right hand corner.

This image clearly shows how close the river is to Teesta bazar (top right hand corner) of which several areas are sinking and the level of the river between Rabi jhora (see map) and the Teesta bridge thru which the Darjeeling- Kalimpong is routed.

Notice the level of the Teesta as it hugs the NH10 in between Geil Khola (extreme right) and the settlement (29Mile or Baluatar) at the center of the photo.

Section of NH10 between Baluatar (settlement on the right hand side) and Teesta Low Dam Project III (TLDPIII), left top.

The Likhu Bhir section of the NH10 - perhaps the most troublesome part for maintenance as well as traffic jams.

Geil khola - Likhu Bhir - Teesta Bridge (top right) section. The post -GLOF Teesta river is flowing bank to bank even with deficient rainfall in Darjeeling -Sikkim Himalaya over the past two weeks. We still have a month or more of rains left.

Documentation of the above report supported by Royal Enfield, as part of its Social Mission Initiative

Praful Rao
SaveTheHills,
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744