Commemorating the 'Teesta Valley GLOF of 04Oct2023' with photos of the event and its aftermath.

A woman washes the money she recovered while scavenging for lost property in a flood affected area of Rangpo (Sikkim) on 06Oct2023 - photo credit Praveen

As I write, it is very early morning on 04Oct2024 and it was exactly at this time last year that I was up at my home in Kalimpong, trying to contact and verify with people, mainly in Sikkim, about whether a GLOF had actually taken place in the Teesta valley.
In the meantime my cellphone was receiving images and videos of the floods as the wall of water tore down the valley. Just verifying what was happening in order to report and record it accurately  kept me engaged the entire day and next, while my young friend and photographer Praveen Chhetri visited Teesta Bazar which the GLOF hit around 4am. He recorded the impact of the GLOF as it happened.
I did not know then that this process of recording the GLOF and its impact would keep us busy for an entire year but it has - and has required numerous visits to many parts of the Teesta valley including one trip made in Nov2023 to Chungthang where the 1200mw Sikkim Urja hydroelectric dam was destroyed by the GLOF.
What we have in this blog is perhaps the most comprehensive photographic record of what was the largest GLOF which took place in the Himalayas. Praveen and I certainly have hundreds of images, many videos and voice recordings of the interviews of affected people that we did during the course of the year.

    Interviewing an affected person who had lost everything to the GLOF - Rangpo (Sikkim), 06Oct2023.

This post, where I publish some photos is only to commemorate that momentous event which changed the lives of so many
Lest we forget...

Army personnel recovering buried vehicles at Bardang (Sikkim) on 06Oct2023. 22 army persons who were a part of a convoy were swept away by the GLOF here

Landslide affected areas of Naga, a village between Mangan(district headquarters, North Sikkim) and Chungthang in Nov2023 (telephoto image from opposite hill). The village was almost entirely evacuated during the monsoons of 2024.

A man crosses the Teesta river on a bamboo bridge at Toong, North Sikkim in Nov2023. The bridge connecting Chunthang to Mangan was torn down by the GLOF

GLOF affected areas between Chungthang and Lachen town where there was no impact of the Sikkim Urja dam burst. The scale of the devastation caused by the GLOF alone is apparent in the photo - photo courtesy Dathup, Lachen.

GLOF eroded parts of NH10 between Teesta bazar and Melli in Oct 2023. With the Teesta river running 4-5m above the pre-GLOF levels, the erosion of NH10 increased remarkably in 2024.

Debris and vegetation which the GLOF had dumped on top of the NHPC Stage V 510MW dam at Dikchu, SIkkim. The Teesta river 'over toppled ' ie went over the dam at this site.

Tree stumps and debris inside the NHPC Stage VI dam at Sirwani, Singtam (Sikkim), Nov2023

Vehicles strewn around like battered toys, on the banks of the Teesta at Singtam (Sikkim).

Part of Teesta town (Krishnagram or Bhasuwa) literally sliding slowly into the river - Sep2024

A marooned COVID hospital on the banks of the Teesta and Rangeet rivers at Tribeni, (Darjeeling district) - Sep2024. There is no road access to the hospital with the Teesta river having kept large parts of the access road submerged after the GLOF.

Rangpo town in Sept24. One year after the GLOF, parts of the town are still trying to recover. The river still flows uncomfortably close to the town and the police checkpost (green roofed structure on the top left is literally tilting into the river.

Undoubtedly one of the most iconic images of a GLOF.

Drone image taken by Praveen at around 11.00am on 04Oct2023 from the Teesta bridge when the GLOF was passing thru the area. As can be seen much of the Teesta bazar was already submerged.

Documentation of parts of the above report was supported by Royal Enfield, as part of their Social Mission Initiative


With
Praveen Chhetri (9733185815)

Praful Rao
SaveTheHills
9475033744
savethehills@gmail.com

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

Extraordinary high intensity and very localized rainfall of 29Aug2023 at Kalimpong

Meteorological conditions
28Aug2023 was a cloudy day and except for a little early morning rain, it was dry in Kalimpong. We even had a rare 'NO WARNING' for Sub-Himalayan West Bengal (SHWB) and Sikkim.

Cloud images showed fairly settled weather in our region through the day - even until 8.15pm on 28Aug2023, when I put a last post in 'Hazard Alerts' our What's App 'Early Warning' group in the Darj-Sikkim region.

                  Above image shows no major clouding in the area circled.

The clouding suddenly increased thereafter, as seen in the IR Image of 11.45pm of 28Aug2023:

              Notice the clouding which has suddenly appeared below Kalimpong

Nowcast issued by IMD is placed below

Rainfall of 29Aug2023 morning
We had sudden and very intense rainfall starting from 1.30am with peak intensities crossing 135mm/hr. The rainfall amount was 79.2mm in a very short time.

The screenshot of Damini (Lightning Alert app) showing no lightning at 3.06am in our area is below

And at 3.45am, with the rainfall declining over Kalimpong, the clouding vanished, just as quickly as it had appeared.

What is amazing in this event, besides the extremely sharp increase and decrease of rain intensity, is that it rained only over Kalimpong.
Adjoining towns of Darjeeling, Kurseong and Todey (where there are Davis automatic weather stations) had ZERO rainfall

QUESTION IS:
ARE WE PREPARED FOR THIS TYPE OF RAINFALL WHICH IS NO LONGER EXTRAORDINARY BUT BECOMING THE NEW NORMAL?

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

 

Himachal disaster of Aug2023

It was not a bumper to bumper deluge in Himachal Pradesh (& Uttarakhand) but the rains of 14Aug2023 came close enough to the floods and landslides of Jul2023
The satellite image and moisture incursion images which STH posted at 630.am on 14Aug2023 in its WhatsApp group proved rather prophetic, in view of the disaster which was to follow in Himachal later:

Meteorological conditions
Though the met. conditions which led to the intense rainfall were similar to that which occurred in July, Dr Dave Petley whom I consulted gave a rather interesting reason for the landslides which took place:
Me:  Is the western disturbance/ monsoon current combination in the NW Himalayas   responsible for this intensity of rain? 
• We get more rainfall in the eastern Himalayas but landslide disasters are more frequent in Himachal and Uttarakhand these days.
Dave:Often landslides are triggered by the variation from the mean intensity for a location more than the intensity itself. I guess the landscape is more adapted to very extreme rain in the east than in the west. HP and Uttarakhand seem to get repeated events that exceed the mean by a long way now.
Rainfall data

Significant rainfall recorded (in cm):
✓ Uttarakhand: Dehradun: Rishikesh-42, Sahastradhara-25, Uni, Mussoorie, Raiwala-19 each, Mohkampur-18, Jollygrant-17, Chakrata- 8, Haripur-7, PAURI GARHWAL: Lansdown-17, Yamkeshwar-15, Kotdwar-11, Rikhnikhal-10, Satpuli- 9, Srinagar -7; CHAMPAWAT: Chalthi-16, Bastia-14, Tanakpur- 10, Champawat-9, Champawat-8, Lohaghat-7; TEHRI GARHWAL:
Rani_Chawri-15, Tehri-12, Devprayag-14, Koteshwer, Narendranagar-8 each, Dhanolti, Ghansali-7 each; BAGESHWAR: Liti-16, Song-8, Kanda-7, UDHAM SINGH NAGAR: Jaspur-10; PITHORAGARH: Didihat-8, Berinag, Jauljibi-7 each,
✓ Himachal Pradesh:
Kangra (dist Kangra) 27, Sujanpur Tira (dist Hamirpur) 25, Dharmsala (dist
Kangra) 25, Palampur (dist Kangra) 22, Guler (dist Kangra) 19, Jogindarnagar (dist Mandi) 18, Nagrota Surian (dist Kangra) 18, Kataula (dist Mandi) 17, Sundarnagar (dist Mandi) 17, Baldwara (dist Mandi) 15, Mandi (dist Mandi) 14, Shimla (dist Shimla) 13, Dharmshala (dist Kangra) 13, Barthin (dist Bilaspur) 13, Simla (dist Shimla) 13, Berthin (dist Bilaspur) 12, Gohar (dist Mandi) 12, Nahan (dist Sirmaur) 11, Ghumarwin (dist Bilaspur) 10, Kasauli (dist Solan) 10, Paonta (dist Sirmaur) 9, Dalhousi Alha (dist Chamba) 8, Nadaun (dist Hamirpur) 8, Bilaspur Sadar (dist Bilaspur) 8, Arki (dist Solan) 8, Kufri Aws (dist Shimla) 8, Mashobra (dist Shimla) 7, Aghar (dist Hamirpur) 7, Rohru (distShimla) 7, Mehre (barsar) (dist Hamirpur) 7, Kandaghat (dist Solan) 7
Early warning:
The rainfall forecast together with antecedent rainfall should have been important indicators of the disaster which followed plus IIT Mandi had been working on a sensor base LEWS (Landslide Early Warning System) project for some years now. Placed below is an image of the early warning which is available online from the NRSC website:

Disaster Details
Much information is available in YouTube and in the media on the disaster. STH is awaiting for more specific inputs besides those already available. What is known is that more than 50 persons perished in yesterdays' rainfall and the landslides which followed.
Will keep posting updates as and when available.

Update on the landslides.
See here for Dr Dave Petley's post on the '14August Landslides in Himachal'

Update on the road situation as on 16Aug2023.
Road Situation Report  upto  1900  Hrs. –
1) NH 21 Mandi-Kullu Via Pandoh road blocked at various places due to land sliding.
2) Mandi-Kullu via Kataula road closed due to restoration work till 10 Am tomorrow.
3) Sundernagar- Chail Chowk –Gohar- Kullu road  through upto Pandoh for LMV only and Pandoh to Aut blocked at Kainchi Mor (near Pandoh Dam)  due to heavy sliding.
4) NH 21 Mandi –Sundernagar -Slapper  and four lane via Dehar road through  .
 5) Mandi to Karsog via Rohanda blocked due to land sliding, Karsog to Luhri road blocked at Kotlu/Shilh and Karsog to Shimla Road through.
6) Mandi to Dharampur blocked at Saroli and Dharampur to sandhol road blocked at Sarari, Sakloh due to land sliding.
7)  Mandi to Sarkaghat blocked at Durgapur  and Sarkaghat to Dharampur  road through via Paplog.
8) NH 154 Mandi –Padhar  road through for LMV via Diana park.
9) Nerchowk-Kalkhar , rewalsar  road  blocked at various places  due to land sliding.
10) Mandi to Janjehli road blocked at various places due to landsliding and Janjehli-Karsog via Raigarh blocked due to land sliding and janjehli  to chatri road blocked at Magru gala.
  
Weather Cloudy.

Update from NDTV (17Aug2023)

At least 71 people have died in the past three days and 13 are still missing in Himachal Pradesh after devastating rains pounded the state, with Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu terming the work of rebuilding infrastructure a "mountain-like challenge". The death count from landslides and flashfloods jumped on Wednesday as rescuers pulled out more bodies from the rubble of collapsed buildings, officials said. Heavy rains have battered the hill state since Sunday, triggering landslides in several districts including Shimla where three areas -- Summer Hill, Fagli and Krishna Nagar -- are badly hit by landslips.
"At least 71 people have died in the past three days and 13 are still missing. As many as 57 bodies have been recovered since Sunday night," Principal Secretary (Revenue) Onkar Chand Sharma said.
Earlier, Chief Minister Sukhu said that about 60 people have died since Sunday night.
In an interview with PTI, Mr Sukhu said his state will take a year to rebuild the infrastructure wrecked by the heavy rains this monsoon and claimed that the estimated loss in the two devastating spells of heavy rains - this week and in July - is about ₹ 10,000 crore.
The chief minister said it takes time to rebuild roads and water projects. But the government is speeding up the process. "We have to get the infrastructure fully restored within a year. I am working with this in mind." "It's a big challenge, a mountain-like challenge," he said. According to the state emergency operation centre, in total 214 people have died in the rain-related incidents in the state since the onset of monsoon on June 24 while 38 are still missing.
"Rescue operations are going on in Summer Hill and Krishna Nagar areas...one body was recovered from Summer Hill site," Shimla Deputy Commissioner Aditya Negi told PTI. He said so far 13 bodies have been recovered from Summer Hill, five from Fagli and two from Krishna Nagar. Some bodies are still feared buried in the debris of the Shiva temple at Summer Hill that collapsed on Monday. About 15 houses in Krishna Nagar have been vacated and the families shifted to safer places. Several others have vacated their homes themselves fearing slides due to incessant rains.The Education department had ordered closure of all schools and colleges in the state on Wednesday due to inclement weather and the Himachal Pradesh University has suspended teaching activities till August 19.About 800 roads are blocked in the state and the losses suffered by the state since the onset of monsoon on June 24 have crossed ₹ 7,480 crore, officials said, adding as many as 10,714 houses have been completely or partially damaged so far.Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri has urged the Centre to declare national calamity in Himachal Pradesh and release ₹ 2,000 crore for restoration works.

 Update from The Statesman (20Aug2023)

Update from NDTV (21Aug2023)
Mandi:
Ten people, who were trapped in a reservoir in Himachal Pradesh since last evening, have been rescued, officials said.
Officials said their boat got stuck in the Kol Dam reservoir in Mandi yesterday due to rise in water levels following incessant rain.
Five of those who were stuck in the reservoir are employees of the forest department, they said.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was rushed to the spot after locals informed the police about the incident.
More than 338 people have died in Himachal Pradesh in rain-related incidents since the onset of Monsoon this year, while 38 people are missing, according to the state emergency operation centre.
Incessant rain has led to landslides, cloudburst, and flash floods, causing significant damage in the State. The government of Himachal Pradesh has declared the whole state as a 'natural calamity affected area'.
According to the latest information provided by the state government, the total monetary loss in Himachal has reached ₹ 8,014.61 crore since June 24.
Update about Himachal landslide of 24Aug2023

From Dr Dave Petley's blog

Update about Himachal landslide of 31Aug2023

 Update about Himachal landslide of 03Sep2023

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

SaveTheHills activities in 2021 - landslide surveys

One of the most important roles of STH over the years is to document landslide occurrences in our region so that this information though not technical in nature is available to scholars, government departments and others.
Unfortunately, due to the lockdowns and restrictions imposed during COVID peaks we could not carry out these surveys in landslide affected areas very far from Kalimpong however, our Whats App group 'Hazard Alerts' proved extremely useful as a crowd sourced information hub where people reported landslides and heavy rain as they occurred and we were able to record these events in our database.

03Jan2021 : A visit to Mungpel village

See here for details

17April2021: Reporting a lightning strike
Hanuman Mandir, Kalimpong

04Jul2021: Landslide survey around Kalimpong town

22Jul2021: Survey around areas NE of Kalimpong town ie Algarah town

Algarah is satellite town located approx 15km NE of Kalimpong. It has long had a serious  subsidence problem and each year a central part of the town literally sinks. We surveyed the road to Algarah  (which has numerous subsidence zones) and the areas in the vicinity.

31Jul2021: Survey of landslide affected areas in Kalimpong after extreme rainfall of 29Jul

We had some of the heaviest rainfall of the monsoons in July 2021 and that resulted in a large number of landslides in Kalimpong on 30Jul2021. We surveyed the affected areas.

This 👆 is undoubtedly one of the largest landslide in the entire Darjeeling - Kalimpong district.

06Aug2021: Berrick dara (NH10)

After a report on the local media (Kalimpong TV) that a large landslide at Berrick Dara on NH10, was causing instability and cracks to the homes of Berrick village we made a visit to the place on 06Aug2021.
Berrick on NH10 has had a long standing problem with landslides.

25Sep2021: Landside Survey in Kurseong with GSI Team

STH member Mr Sachin Tamang from Kurseong (Darjeeling district) was with GSI team surveying landslides along NH110 at Sukna, Tindharia, Pagla Jhora and Kurseong

02Oct2021 : Landslide Survey in Kalimpong district with GSI Team

I have participated in many landslide surveys with the GSI over the years and it was a pleasure to be with geologists Sumit and Ankur  during their visit to Kalimpong district.

21Oct2021: Surveying NH10 from Teesta to Rangpo and back via Munsong

28Oct2021: Surveying the landslides along NH717A

The deluge of 18/19Oct2021 caused a large number of landslides along the NH717A, a highway being constructed as an alternate to NH10. 

18Nov2021: Fatal landslide at Darjeeling SDO's quarters.

The landslide which damaged part of the SDO Darjeeling quarters (which lies above  the  District Magistrate's office and below Raj Bhavan) occurred on 19Oct2021. The watchman (chowkidar) died when he was buried by the slide. 

 

Many of the surveys are covered in more detail in this blog (pl check blog for the month and date).
Otherwise thanks to Ms Shreya Gurung of STH, we have a data base of landslides where we have recorded the coordinates/rainfall/ damage caused by the landslide. They are here

Landslide catalogue

Landslide Survey on NH717A done on 28Oct2021

Praful Rao
SaveTheHills
Kalimpong district
Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalayas