Extreme rainfall event in the Darjeeling district: 04/05Oct2025 (Part IIIB - damage caused by 'non- fatal landslides')

 Non - fatal landslides

The intense storm of 04–05 October 2025 triggered numerous non-fatal, rain-induced landslides of varying types and magnitudes across the Darjeeling–Kalimpong region (see above). Official estimates place the number of landslides in Darjeeling district alone at nearly 500. Given the scale of the event and the difficulty of surveying each site, this report focuses on a selection of the major landslides.

Seeyok Tea Garden - Sukhia block.

a. Area involved: Goddam dhura Ward 10 consists of 336 people in 87 homes.

b. Circumstances: Heavy rainfall began across the region on the evening of 04 October 2025. As the intensity increased, several residents—most of them tea garden workers—woke their neighbours and urged them to move to safer ground. One woman, an ASHA worker who had received RED alerts on her mobile phone, also went door-to-door warning others of the danger. Around 2 a.m. on 05 October 2025, a massive landslide struck, accompanied by a deafening roar reminiscent of an explosion. The Rangli River, normally a small stream, had swollen into a torrent, altered its course, and swept away two bridges in the area.
c. Damage: 7 homes completely damaged, 3 partially damaged. Livestock has been lost and vegetable gardens are ruined. Roads in the area are in a mess. 32 people were living in a relief camp. Many vehicles and two wheelers belonging to the community were washed away.

Goddam Dhura after the deluge of 05Oct2025. It is amazing that even after such devastation,
no one died - in large part due to the alertness of the community and timely evacuation to safer ground.

The tea industry, both in the Dooars and the hills, suffered huge losses because of the heavy rains. Here you see large landslides ruining parts of a garden - Goddam Dhura is visible in the valley below.

Drone image of Goddam Dhura on 17Oct2025. The rampage and destruction by the river is very apparent.

Taba Koshi, Mirik Subdivision (Coords 26.921391N 88.173500E)

a. Area: Taba Koshi is a series of around 40 homestays along the Rangbangh river which came up during the time of Subash Ghisingh and which started flourishing once road communication links from the area to Siliguri, Mirik and so on were established.
On 04Oct2025, due to the festive season, almost all the homestays were full with tourists from the plains.
b. Circumstances: As in other areas, rainfall started during the day on 04Oct2025 but intensified after 6pm and became really heavy later. Noticing the Rangbangh river had started crossed all danger levels, the locals started evacuating their guests to safer places after midnight. The power supply which had been erratic, thru the day because of the intense lightning on 04Oct2025 went OFF altogether at night so everything had to be done in pitch darkness and in heavy rain. So it was nothing short of a miracle that no one died.

c. Damages/loss: Many of the homestays were damaged as the Rangbangh river surged into the compounds and swept away vehicles as well as parts of the homestays in the early hours of 05Oct2025. There was significant damage to roads as well as to power lines and poles.

Damage to homes and infrastructure at Taba Koshi by the Rangbangh river - photo taken on 17Oct2025 more than two weeks after the deluge.

The Rangbangh river seen here is by all accounts a tiny stream which on the 05Oct2025 became a roaring torrent after the heavy rainfall on 04/05Oct2025. The river changed its course and threatened many homestays which were otherwise quite far from the river. Here, an earthmoving equipment is being used to correct the river's path.

The rampaging Rangbangh river caused extensive damage to roads and bridges at Taba Koshi on 04/05Oct2025.

A vehicle drives over a temporary bridge made of hewn pipes because of damage to the original bridge by the river on 05Oct2025

A smashed vehicle lying on the banks of Rangbangh river. Many such vehicles were lost because the homestay owners never believed the river, otherwise a tiny stream was capable of such devastation.

Massively eroded part of a homestay at Taba Koshi.

Damaged parts of a homestay and power lines at Taba Koshi, Mirik.

On 05Oct2025, a tiny stream (Rangbangh river) transformed into a rampaging torrent and brought down these massive boulders to a homestay at Taba Koshi.

This is the heart of tea country in Darjeeling district and the havoc wreaked by the rain and ensuing landslides is huge. Large parts of tea gardens have been severely mauled by the disaster o 04/05Oct2025.

Report by STH Survey team (which will be updated as and when possible)

From Left to Right
Steve Rai(interviews and videos with Praveen)
Yukta Acharya (Interviews and records): yuktaa1999@gmail.com
Shreya Gurung (Interviews): shreyagurung07@gmail.com
Praveen Chhetri (all drone images and photographs): junkeristudio@gmail.com

with sincere thanks and appreciation to Roshan, Rajen bhai and Priya of Darjeeling Himalaya Initiative (DHI)
and also to Aachal (Anugyalaya DDSSS) for helping with resource persons and information.

Praful Rao
savethehills@gmail.com
9475033744

A walk down to the solid waste dumpsite at Dalman Gaon (Kalimpong), to understand the complexity of waste management in a Himalayan town - by STH interns.

On 13Jun2023, we walked a distance of approximately 5.5km down a steep inclined road to Dalman Gaon, Bhalukhop village, to see the waste dumping ground used by the Kalimpong Municipality for the disposal of the town's solid waste.

Kalimpong has a population of 49403 (2011 census) and is one of the major towns in the Darjeeling - Sikkim Himalaya and like all Himalayan towns, Kalimpong has a lot of development activity (much of it unplanned) taking place; the town is surrounded by a large number of home stays which add to the solid waste problem. 

 

As per the Municipality, it is estimated that 38.4 metric tonnes of waste is generated everyday of which only 10.4 tonnes of the waste is collected and the dumping ground has become a site where every conceivable type of solid waste is discarded.

 

On approaching the dumping ground, we encountered the rusting carcass of a biogas plant set up by the Municipality in 2015 with the intention of making and selling cooking gas in order to generate funds from the sale thereof. The construction cost of this plant was Rs 80 lakhs. It was estimated that the biogas plant could process 3 metric tonnes of organic waste per day with the final products being biogas and organic manure. The project failed due to a number of reasons and no biogas was commercially marketed from the plant.
The non-functional bio-gas plant raises questions regarding proper utilization of resources, loss of public money and accountability.

What was very apparent from seeing the dumping ground was that segregation of the huge volumes and assortment of waste at the dumpsite was an impossible task. Hence the necessity of segregation at the household level.

The Chota Bhalukhop area where the dumpyard is located, is a very landslide prone zone as per Geological Survey of India (GSI). The extraordinary rains of September 2007 resulted in a number of large landslides in this area and at least two landslide fatalities.

The dump yard being located in this zone results in the road to the site getting blocked frequently during the monsoons which causes the disposal of waste on streets of Kalimpong town - which could cause a serious health hazard in a densely populated urban setting. 

Historically, Kalimpong had two earlier solid waste disposal sites. The first dumpsite located above Alaichikhop village was discontinued after villagers protested in 2009 on the waste from town being dumped in their area.

 

After the Alaichikhop dumping site was closed a temple was built at the site to deter any one from dumping waste at the site.

Thus the second dump site was at Bhalukhop (see below).This second dumpsite however, had to be closed after considerable expenditure incurred in the construction because of landslides in the area.

 

 As such the Dalman Gaon dump site is the third dump site of Kalimpong town.

Kalimpong Municipality engages 4 vehicles(2 pickups, 2 tipper trucks) for collection of wastes from different parts of Kalimpong town which operates 3 trips per day to the dumpsite. They have around 20 persons engaged in this job.

After a long walk along the rugged hillside on the western face of Kalimpong, the image of a hill made up of solid wastes, mostly of plastic, revealed the ugly and almost insurmountable problem of solid waste management in a mountain town.

In conclusion, the visit to the solid waste dumping ground in Dalman Gaon, Bhalukhop village revealed the pressing need to reduce the amount of waste being produced in Kalimpong town especially because tourism is adding more and more waste to the mountains and to stringently implement the ban on single use plastics.
There is also an urgent need to launch a concerted campaign to raise awareness on the importance of household segregation of waste in Kalimpong.

Report by Interns with SaveTheHills (STH)

Akshima - IIT (Mandi)
Yogesh K Vijay - IIT (Mandi)
Mohd. Ashiq - IIT (Mandi)
Mohd. Salih - IIT (Mandi)

with guidance from

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