After the drought - welcome rains in mid - March2024 but also the adverse impact on NH10

After the devastating Teesta valley GLOF of 04Oct2023, our region went in for a four and a half month drought where we did not get a drop of rain:

Both the post-monsoon and  winter season rains went missing and with the vegetation and forests bone dry, we had forest fires much earlier than usual (SHWB is Sub-Himalayan W Bengal)

Screenshot of my post in our What'sApp group, 'Hazard Alerts' showing forest fires in Jan2024.

Forest fire in Sikkim: 16Mar2024

The drought-like conditions continued right upto mid-March2024 with acute drinking water scarcity in many of the urban centres in our region - in Kalimpong there was a 3 day waiting list for anyone wanting to buy water from the water tankers and also, I believe people have started drilling for ground water again. In the rural areas, springs dried up.

Winter rains are caused by Western Disturbances (WDs) which originate around the Mediterranean sea.
DownToEarth reported on the matter, excerpts of which are placed below:
'There has been a lack of rainfall during the post-monsoon season and next to no winter snowfall in some of the north Indian states as a result of a lack of intense western disturbances. This can affect the yield of Rabi crops in these regions and also availability of water in the mountains in general. The lack of snowfall in the mountains could also lead to a warmer than normal pre-monsoon season, with excess rainfall that could affect the harvesting period of Rabi crops. 
Winter precipitation in north India is essential to ensure people’s food and water security. While Rabi is the major cropping season encouraged by rainfall, the glacial streams and rivulets in the Himalayas are fed by melting snow and ice later in the season. 
The only source of rainfall and snowfall in the region are extratropical storms known as western disturbances (WD), which travel from the Mediterranean region. They induce cyclonic circulations in the lower layers of the atmosphere, which cause rainfall in the plains and snowfall in the mountains. They also interact with other wind systems such as the easterlies (winds blowing from the east) to cause rainfall in central India.
The WDs have been showing a decline in intensity in the past few years due to changing climate. The trend continued in the post-monsoon and winter seasons of 2023 as well.
From October 1, 2023 to January 2, 2024, 16 WDs have affected India — five in October, five in November and six in December — out of which only three have been intense and caused rainfall, according to data from the India Meteorological Department (IMD), analysed by Down To Earth (DTE).
This has caused rainfall deficits in states like Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. While Uttarakhand experienced 47 per cent less rains than normal from October 1 to December 27, the deficit in Himachal Pradesh was 40 per cent, according to data from IMD.
Eight out of the 13 districts of Uttarakhand had deficient rainfall (20-59 per cent less rainfall than normal) and four of them suffered from large deficient (greater than 60 per cent deficit) rainfall. Udham Singh Nagar district had the maximum deficit of 87 per cent. 
In Himachal Pradesh, four districts had deficient rainfall and two had large deficient rainfall. Lahaul and Spiti district had the maximum deficit of 73 per cent.
“Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand received deficient precipitation since western disturbances during the post-monsoon were weak in nature,” Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and Department of Meteorology, University of Reading, United Kingdom, told DTE.
“The western disturbance activity witnessed a southward dip in December, causing good rainfall over central India, but either deficient or scanty rainfall over most of northern India in December,” he added. 
Towards the end of November, a moderately intense WD interacted with a lower level trough in the easterlies and chased significant rainfall in central and western Indian states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan.
“The northwest rainfall reduction is consistent with the general decreasing trend in western disturbances and the precipitation drop over the region. But the El Nino also tends to produce colder winters over parts of this region,” Raghu Murtugudde, a climate scientist at the University of Maryland and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, told DTE.
Murtugudde predicted that the pre-monsoon season will be warmer and probably get more rainfall because of the Arabian Sea warming. “If the summer transitions to a La Niña then we should have excess rainfall during the monsoon season,” he concluded.

The drought mercifully ended on 20March2024 in Kalimpong and also the rest of
.Sub - Himalayan WB and SIkkim with thundershowers commencing at 2.30am.
The weather systems which affected us and the cloud image is shown below:

For the past few days we have had welcome light rain in our region. Rainfall totals from 20-22Mar2024 are given below:
Darjeeling 118.6mm  Kalimpong  67.2mm  Bagdogra  92.1mm  Gangtok 46.2mm

NH10 status
We have reported extensively on the impact of the GLOF on roads and bridges in our earlier blogs including one exclusively on the part of NH10 which is now causing massive traffic jams here.
What is alarming is that after absolutely no rain for months, the first light/moderate rainfall can disrupt our communication lines so much - an issue which was pointed out by us in the report submitted to the NDMA & SDMAs of W Bengal and Sikkim on 10Nov2023.
Excerpt of the report is below

I shudder to think what will be the condition and status of NH10 when the SW monsoons set in a few months time.

Traffic jams today at Chitrey (top) and Teesta bazar on NH10

Landslide at Likhu Bhir (NH10) on 21Mar2024
(Images from Hazard Alerts What'sApp group - many thanks:)

NH10 and alternate routes in the Kalimpong- Sikkim area

Kalimpong District Administration's What'sApp message on 21Mar2024 advising alternate routes

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikim Himalaya
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744

 

Side effects of the GLOF disaster - a trucker's strike in Kalimpong (04Dev2023)

One of the major impacts of the GLOF of 04Oct2023 was its effect on road communications in the lower parts of the Teesta valley that is, on NH10 which connects Gangtok to Siliguri.

About NH10

NH10 is an arterial road, vital for the nation’s security; it is the lifeline for the border state of Sikkim and for Kalimpong district in W Bengal.

Of the 114km distance between Siliguri and Gangtok approximately 92 kms of NH10 lies in mountainous terrain and for much of this distance, the highway winds itself along the banks of the Teesta river. Several large dams have now been built on the Teesta between Chungthang (Sikkim) and Coronation bridge (W Bengal) and many more are planned. The proximity of the river to the highway and the dam activity in this area has undoubtedly contributed to the instability on NH10. The 44.9km IRCON/NFR single lane railway project between Sevoke and Rangpo which has 85% of the distance in tunnels also runs close to NH10 along the valley. This is also creating problems with the excavations from the tunnels and sludge affecting traffic.

This area receives approx 2500-3000mm of rainfall annually and has a lot of landslide activity as such there are many 'hotspots' or large and troublesome landslide areas which routinely disrupt traffic during the monsoons both in the 38km Sikkim section (from Rangpo to Gangtok) and the much longer (62km) W Bengal section (Rangpo to Coronation bridge). The entire region is in earthquake zone IV.
Normally, approx 3500-4000 vehicles ply on NH10 each day from Sikkim, Kalimpong to Siliguri.

The W Bengal section of NH10 is being maintained by the PWD (W Bengal) except for a small portion between Teesta Bazar and Geil Khola which is with NHIDCL. Maintenance of the 28km part in Sikkim from Rangpo to Ranipul is again with NHIDCL

Source: NHIDCL

Current problems   
The GLOF of 04Oct2023 shredded many parts of NH10 and for some time the Kalimpong - Melli section of the highway and the Kalimpong to 27th mile sections were closed due to damage.

Drone photo of NH10 opposite Melli bazar, on 10Oct2023 which had been eroded away by the GLOF

Part of NH10 towards Sikkim from Teesta bazar after the GLOF on 10Oct2023

Part of particularly troublesome part (between Teesta bazar and Geil khola) of NH10 on 18Oct2023. 'A' is Geil Khola which was severely impacted by the GLOF and 'B' is Likhu Bhir landslide area which has been reactivated by the GLOF.

Vehicular traffic quickly resumed on the Teesta - Gangtok section of NH10 and we could report on the impact of the GLOF at Melli and Bhalukhola on 10Oct2023. The Teesta to Coronation bridge section required more time and was only opened for light vehicles (4 wheelers) and between 6am-6pm on 21Oct2023.

On 04Dec2023 truckers from Kalimpong supported by truck unions from Sikkim and also minibus operators called an indefinite strike alleging long delays in repairing the Teesta - Coronation bridge section of the highway. See map below:

* ABCF is the normal NH10 route (in the mountains) for all vehicles . Now this route is only OPEN for light vehicles. On this road, the Siliguri - Gangtok distance is 114km and takes approx 4hrs.
* Section CF is closed for 6 wheeler trucks and buses and other heavy vehicles.
* Because of the CF closure, heavy vehicles from Gangtok and Kalimpong have to detour thru ABCDEF route ie drive thru Kalimpong town, to Lava & Gorubathan which is 228km and takes approx 7 hrs
OR
* Otherwise heavy vehicles have to follow the route shown in blue (241km) ie ABDEF route which again takes 7 hours plus.
Heavy vehicular movements disrupt traffic as such they are only permitted to ply at night thru urban areas, so I met a truck driver from Sikkim enroute to Siliguri, taking a nap at 10.00am on the roadside, because he had a 7hr drive ahead in the night.
NH717A is under construction and is not available to traffic.
A smaller alternate route from Kalimpong across Relli river then thru Samthar and Panbu and Kalijhora is available for light vehicles. However, this route is not suitable for heavy traffic and is at places desolate.
Lastly, a major problem with the alternate routing thru NH717A and the current Lava - Gorubathan routing is that this area receives almost 4000mm rainfall annually, has severe thundershowers during the monsoons and has a number of large landslide zones such as that in Nimbong.

Video of heavy night time traffic thru Pedong bazar courtesy Amod Pradhan

Damaged culvert at 11th mile Kalimpong due to movement of heavy trucks from Sikkim and Kalimpong to Siliguri.

Luckily, the strike was quickly called off with the District Administration assuring the striking transporters that the Teesta - Coronation section would be opened to heavy vehicles and buses from 10Dec2023.

In all this, the plight of truckers and bus operators who have to do a grueling 7-9hr drive from Gangtok to Siliguri is understandable - it is a tough and tiring drive, mostly along mountain roads.

Freight charges of a truck from Siliguri to Kalimpong have gone up from Rs 8,000/- to roughly double that ie Rs 15,000/- and the drivers take two days to complete a round trip.

On the other hand, the caution on the part of the district administration is also very understandable. The Teesta bazar to Sevoke section of NH10 has always been a particularly vulnerable area with numerous 'hotspots' and the GLOF has only made these places weaker. Opening NH10 to full traffic in haste and without any restrictions may expose travelers along the highway to dangerous and weak areas and we have already witnessed a number of accidents along NH10 recently and even some fatalities.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744

STH at the C20 (Civil-20) Conclave in Gangtok (Sikkim) on 30April2023

In Dec 2022, India assumed the Presidency of G20 which is a group of 20 nations which have come together to address some of the major issues of the world. In this C20 or Civil 20 is one of the many engagement groups which will forward its policy recommendations later in the year to the G20 group for consideration.
What is the C20?
Well, C20 provides a platform to Civil Society Organizations of countries in the G20 group to voice their perspectives on the many issues in which civil society has a role. In this regard, the Chair of C20 is Amma ((Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi) and a Conclave on 'Sustainable and Resilient Communities' was organized by the Amrita Organization along with the Govt of Sikkim on the 29/30April at Chintan Bhavan in Gangtok, SIkkim.

Responding to a Call for Submissions by the C20 group, STH submitted a 3 slide presentation to the organizers for the Conclave on 'HAZARD ALERTS', a What's App group which STH formed 6 years ago in order to disseminate hazard warnings and information to the Grass Roots in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

We also submitted a short video on 'HAZARD ALERTS'

I am glad to inform you that our submission was selected as one of the 20 BEST PRACTICES(Udaharans) to be submitted to the G20 later this year for consideration and I had the privilege of speaking at briefly about 'Hazard Alerts' yesterday at the Chintan Bhavan.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling- Sikkim Himalaya
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744

Events of Note : Workshop on 'State of the Cryosphere in the Himalayas' (19/20Feb2018) and forthcoming workshop on Springshed Management (16/17Mar2018) at Gangtok, Sikkim

 You can read a press statement about the Cryosphere seminar here.
Water or the lack of it is perhaps one of the most important issues for us who live in the Himalayas. As such ACWADAM's forth coming 2 day workshop on conserving our springs should be of interest to all of us.

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

STH Activities : At Gangtok for the IRADe Workshop (06Feb2018) and the DHI meet in Darjeeling (09Feb2018)

Excerpt of Press Release
Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe) in collaboration with G B Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment & Sustainable Development (GBPNIHESD) and North-Eastern Space Applications Centre (NESAC), with support from Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change (MoEFCC) under National Mission on Himalayan Studies (NMHS) has taken up a project to develop disaster resilience action plans for Gangtok city. To achieve the desired outcome of vulnerability assessments of the city, along with the development of disaster resilience plans and capacity building on disaster resilience, a “Multi-stakeholder consultation workshop” was organized on 06th February, 2018 at Summit Denzong, Renaissance Hotel, Gangtok.
This one-day event was attended by officials from various national as well as international organizations associated with disaster resilience such as Geological Survey of India (GSI)-Sikkim Unit; Land Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Government of Sikkim; State Remote Sensing Applications Centre, Sikkim State Climate Change Cell; Urban Development and Housing Department, Government of Sikkim; Water Security & Public Health Department, Government of Sikkim; Transport Department, Government of Sikkim; Gangtok Municipal Corporation; Department of Geography, Sikkim University; Department of Geology, Sikkim University; United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Central Water Commission (CWC); Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and local NGOs such as SaveTheHills and Helping Hands.
Shri Alok Kumar Srivasatav, Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim was the Chief Guest of the event. In his address, Shri Srivasatav expressed the need to shift from previous response oriented approach to disaster management to mitigation focussed efforts. He was glad to know that this was the first stakeholders’ workshop related to disaster management of Gangtok taking place in the city. He emphasized the need to adopt new technologies such as remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) for developing disaster resilience policies. He assured full co-operation from the state Government for the project.
Dr Ajit Tyagi, Former Director General of Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and presently Senior Advisor, IRADe in his welcome address emphasized the need to shift from reactive approach to disaster management to proactive one. He praised the efforts of Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority (SSDMA) in this direction. He stressed that engagement of civil society, Govt. officials and other stakeholders is necessary right from the very beginning so that the outcomes of the project are successfully implemented. The present workshop is an effort in this direction.
Dr Jyoti Parikh, Executive Director (ED), IRADe, highlighted the contributions by IRADe over the years in the Indian Himalayan cities. She presented the various reports published by IRADe documenting the rapid vulnerability assessment done for various Indian cities.
Shri Shakti Singh Choudhary, Mayor of Gangtok city, in his opening remarks, thanked IRADe, GBPNIHESD and NESAC for organizing the event. He added that the city has learned a lot since the 2011 earthquake and now there are more efforts being taken by various organizations for developing disaster resilience in the city. He welcomed the project and asserted that the organizations involved should also support in developing other city level plans for overall development of the city.
You can read about IRADe here

You can read about IMI here

Praful Rao
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Event of Note : Stakeholders’ Workshop On 'Developing Disaster Resilience Action Plan through GIS and Prioritizing Actions for Natural Disaster Risk Reduction in Urban Agglomerations of Shillong and Gangtok', Date: 6th February, 2018

STH will attend as discussant.

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong district,
Darjeeling Sikkim Himalaya

Earthquake report: 27Mar2017, NE of Kalimpong

Date of Occurence:	27/03/2017
Time:	03:12:09 HRS(IST)
Intensity:	SLIGHT
Magnitude:	4.6
Depth:	10 KM
Epicentre:	Lat. 27.3°N Long.88.6°E
Region:	EAST SIKKIM

 As per the above report the intensity is 'Slight' but mark my words, we were jolted out of bed in Kalimpong by a strong but momentary shake  at approx 3.15am which knocked off the power supply for about 20 mins. The epicenter was 26.1km NE of Kalimpong, near Pakyong.

5hrs later at 8.10am, we have not received any report of casualties or damage.

Praful Rao,

Kalimpong district,

Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya

Rainfall data of July2016 for the Darjeeling Sikkim Himalayas and the landslide activity of the month

July 2016 was an extraordinary month for Darjeeling district and North Bengal :-
a. All 3 major towns (Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong) of the district received more than the monthly average with Kurseong getting approx 3 times the amount.
b. But is in the plains that rainfall was heaviest. Siliguri received 354mm of rain on 24Jul2016 and much of Jalpaiguri district saw some of the highest rainfall in recent memory (Slide 9). The hills of Bhutan also received very heavy rains (Slide 8)resulting in most of the rivers emanating there, flooding the plains of Dooars and Jalpaiguri district.
c. There were many, many landslides (Slide 10) all over Darjeeling district but two killed people. On 09Jul2016, two people were crushed to death when a vehicle (Slide 3) they were travelling in, was hit by a falling boulder at Sweti Jhora on National Highway (NH) 10 (linking Siliguri to Gangtok). Later on 20Jul2016, a whole family of three was wiped out at Finchey Taar, in Lodhoma Darjeeling (Slide 6)  by a landslide following heavy and prolonged rains.
d. On 21Jul2016, the district administration decided to demolish (Slide 7)13 houses on the banks of the Teesta river on NH10 at 29th Mile near Kalimpong. The houses were perilously perched on the banks of the Teesta river and on an area which was known to be subsiding.The occupants had been compensated years ago but were refusing to move.
e. Most of the rain came down in the second half of July when IMD reported the axis of the monsoon trough had shifted close to the foothills (Slide 2). The typical clouding which persisted for much of the month is see on the IR image of 21Jul2016 (Slide 14). IMD also clamped a RED warning for SHWB (Sub-Himalayan W Bengal) and Sikkim for much of the entire month of July2016 and with good reason (Slide 5).
f. The roads and highways suffered tremendous damage. NH10 had a large number of bottlenecks which make driving from Siliguri towards and into the mountains both difficult and dangerous (Slides 3 and 11). NH55 or the route from Darjeeling to Siliguri was equally precarious with the main Rohini route closing down  (Slide 12)on 26July2016 and remain so till date.
Other routes like the Kalimpong-Algarah road fared no better with large chunks of it falling off (Slide 13) or being buried under debris (Slide 4).

Praful Rao,
Kalimpong,
Dist Darjeeling