Lest we forget : the disasters of October the fourth

 

A photo of the Andersen Bridge at Teesta bazar which I took in Oct 1968 one week after the disaster (restored using AI without making any major changes). The two figures are Kalyan (my cousin) and a friend - we had all walked down from Kalimpong to see the destruction.

 

 The Fourth of October

I'm not superstitious. Yet 04 October brings a certain chill, not from belief in some omen, but because three major disasters have struck our region on that date, and I lived through and witnessed all of them. 

4 October 1968: the mother of all disasters
 
This was the worst calamity the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya has experienced, and the roots of many of our unstable slopes can be traced back to it.
I clearly remember a steady, heavy downpour that lasted four days, from 2 to 5 October. When it stopped and the blue autumn sky returned, all one could hear was the sound of water: gushing down drains, flowing along streets, seeping out of buildings, bursting out of springs that had never existed before, and in the roar of the river in the Teesta valley.- which I heard from my home situated almost 4000 feet above on the Tirpai ridge (of Kalimpong).

Rainfall data: about 1,000 mm, with the peak falling in roughly 52 hours
Cause: a depression that moved in from the Bay of Bengal
Fatalities: estimates range from about 600 to around 1,000
Damage to Infrastructure: hundreds of landslides, the majestic Anderson Bridge at Teesta Bazaar destroyed, and the highways to Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Sikkim washed away in many places
Isolation: Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Gangtok were all marooned. Food and relief materials were airdropped in Kalimpong.

4 October 2023 GLOF: the Teesta strikes again

The river in spate  at the Teesta Bazar, during the GLOF. Some of the most iconic photos of the GLOF have been taken by STH photographer Praveen on 04Oct shortly after the floods hit Teesta bazar.

A glacial lake outburst at South Lhonak lake in North Sikkim triggered the largest GLOF in the Himalayas so far on 04Oct2023. A wall of water raced down the Teesta in the early hours, wrecking the Chungthang dam and washing away bridges. It was the deadliest flood in the region since 1968.
Fatalities: 92 or more, with many more missing
Bridges lost: 14, which cut Sikkim off from Siliguri
STH has covered this in detail in our numerous Oct2023 blogs on the GLOF.

4 October 2025: Mirik and Sukhia Pokhari landslides

Fatal landslide at Toklang, Mirik on 04/05Oct2025 which killed 4 people.

Rain from a Bay of Bengal depression brought landslides across Darjeeling district. Mirik and Sukhia Pokhari were hit hardest, and the Dudhia iron bridge on the Balason, the main link between Siliguri and Mirik, collapsed.
Rainfall data: 

Fatalities: at least 28 
We have covered this event in detail in the Oct2025 blog

Different decades, different places, same date. That's the chill.

Praful Rao
SaveTheHills
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744