One day after the monsoons arrive, 7 deaths in Sikkim

07Jun2012, Gangtok (Sikkim)
Seven persons including four from the same family were buried alive when a landslide and flashflood triggered by rainstorms struck their houses at Rolep, 16 km from Rongli in East Sikkim early Thursday morning. The incident took place at around 4.30 a.m. The mudslide triggered by a flash flood swept away a sleeping Mehang Rai, a class 5 student from his house in Rolep. Being situated on the upper reaches of the slide-hit area, Mehang’s house was first one to be washed away, reports reaching the state capital said. The landslide also buried alive four members of the same family, all of whom reportedly died in the sleep. The victims have been identified as Birman Rai (60), his wife Mani Maya Rai (49), daughter Tika Devi Rai (14) and son Suman Rai (10).

excerpt from North East Today

Comment by Praful Rao

The monsoons withdrew soon after the 6.9R earthquake which rattled Sikkim and north Bengal on 18Sep2011 as such the rains of this year will be the first major bout of precipitation that will be hitting  the mountains of the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya.

May2012 has seen a largely deficient rainfall scenario in this region (see here) and thus far monsoon activity in this area has been rather weak. As such it surprising that with the 10 odd days of rainfall, there has been quite a few landslides in North Sikkim and 7 fatalities in East Sikkim yesterday.

Rainfall data from Tadong (below Gangtok) for 07/08Jun2012 has been 50mm and 126mm respectively and for Gangtok for the same dates has been 44mm/112mm respectively.

Monsoons 2012 have arrived over North Bengal and Sikkim

Overnight, monsoon strikes north

Calcutta, June 6: The monsoon travelled fast and long overnight to cover the whole of the Northeast and parts of north Bengal.

In north Bengal, the monsoon entered Cooch Behar and Jalpaiguri today. Over the next couple of days, there could be further movement of the monsoon flow in the region.

North Bengal, unlike the south, has been receiving regular pre-monsoon showers for the past few days. The top arm of the monsoon flow first strikes north Bengal. Then the flow rises to cover the south as well.

excerpt from The Telegraph of 07Jun2021

- Praful Rao

Rainfall Mar-May2012 - running deficient again.

Most landslides in the Darjeeling-Sikkim Himalaya are rain - induced as such the necessity of maintaining a close tab on rainfall. Placed above is the rainfall distribution map from IMetD which shows we are 33% deficient in rainfall for the period Mar-May2012.

Praful Rao

About the Monsoons 2012.

Thiruvananthapuram, May 15: 

The South-West monsoon is expected to break over Kerala coast on June 1, says the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

A model error of plus or minus four days is assumed on the date of the onset, the IMD said in its forecast outlook issued on Tuesday.

JUNE ONSET

This is the second time in the last seven years that the onset date should get pushed into June.

In 2005, the forecast date was pushed well beyond the first week to June 10; but the actual onset happened three days in advance.

Rest of the years saw forecast onset dates fall into the last week of May, even to the last day. The actual onsets have come about up to four days in advance.

All available indicators and forecasts had in fact suggested that this year the onset of seasonal rains would take place around the normal time.

This, however, is not an indicator to the ultimate performance of the monsoon over the country across time or spatial scales.

ANDAMANS ONSET

In its onset outlook, the IMD seemed to suggest that the onset over Andaman Sea, which preceded that over Kerala by a fortnight or so, might be slightly delayed.

From Andaman, the monsoon rain hits Sri Lanka (five days ahead) before lashing mainland India over Kerala, along the southwest coast.

Monsoon normally advances over Andaman Sea around May 20 with a standard deviation of about one week.

The cross equatorial monsoon flow is expected to appear over Andaman Sea within next few days resulting increased rainfall activity over the area.

- excerpt fromhttp://www.thehindubusinessline.com

Praful Rao

STH activities :Apr2012

The end of April was busy for us. Bhushan (STH executive member from Kurseong) and I attended SAMBIT II (the 2nd State Disaster Reduction Congress at Jalpaiguri) on the 27-28Apr2012  where landslides did feature amongst other disaster forms of W Bengal.
Also I spent much of the day on 30April2012 with 4 post-graduate women students of the Geography Dept of Lady Brabourne College who along with Smt. Sutopa Mukherjee, Asst Prof of Geography were in Kalimpong for a field  visit to landslide affected areas.

Praful Rao

Rainfall data Apr2012

I am glad to state that we have installed our fourth ARG at Jaldhaka Govt High School.
Jaldhaka is a sleepy little hamlet located in the foothills on the eastern fringes of Kalimpong sub-division. As can be seen from the above tabulation it is place which has heavy and violent thundershowers.

Praful Rao

A farewell to a friend : Ms Gayatri Kharel (1969-2012)

Gayatri was associated with our NGO right from its inception in 2007 and was an executive member of STH.

Ms Gayatri Kharel completed her Masters in Civil Engineering from University of South Carolina, USA and  worked as a research assistant at the University of South Carolina and as Assistant Bridge Seismic Engineer with the South Carolina Department of Transportation USA.
After returning to India she worked as a Structural Consultant in Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Siliguri and Sikkim. She was also a member of Structural Engineers Forum, Indian Institution of Valuers and the Rotary Club of Kalimpong.

She was diagnosed with cancer last winter and underwent an operation in Delhi after which she was undergoing chemotherapy in Siliguri since then. She died on 27Apr2012 of complications during her treatment.

SaveTheHills will always remember Gayatri for her gentleness, her quiet presence and willingness to be a part of all our activities.
She leaves behind her husband Ajit and two young sons.
R.I.P Gayatri, we will miss you.

Praful Rao

The changing face of Landslides - human induced landslips (Darjeeling,17Apr2012)

•
"I fear that we will see a legacy of landslides in the urban areas of Asia over the next decade as a result of the incredible rate of urbanization in Asia." - Professor Dave Petley, BSc (Hons) AKC PhD FRGS FGS ILTM CGeog
University of Durham,
UK

The above landslide occurred in the heart of Darjeeling town at approx 0830h on 17Apr2012 and as per people whom we talked to it was caused by construction activity below a road leading to Sinclairs Hotel in Darjeeling.
Except for a few showers in the first week of April2012, we have just emerged from a bone dry winter and as such drainage may not be a significant causative factor in this small slip.

Photo credit : Compuset, Darjeeling

Praful Rao

2nd West Bengal State Disaster Risk Reduction Congress :27-29Apr2012, at Jalpaiguri

The 2nd W.B State Disaster Risk Reduction Congress is being held in Jalpaiguri between the 27-29Apr2012 and is being jointly organized by the Disaster Management Dept, Govt of W Bengal and the State Inter Agency Group (for details see here).
I am glad to state that STH will be participating in 2 technical sessions regarding landslides.

Praful Rao

STH Stormwatch : After a bone-dry winter, unseasonal heavy rains

After a bone-dry winter, unseasonal and heavy thundershowers dumped nearly 50mm of rain in a couple of hours. Drains blocked by left-over and discarded construction material resulted in storm water overflowing the drains and eroding the road which was repaired barely 4 months ago.
What is so pathetic about this story is that it is repeated ad nauseam all over the district (and maybe in most human settlements along the entire Himalayas) with no solution in sight.
As per the Regional Met Centre at Kolkata, the heavy rains was caused by an upper air cyclonic circulation over Bihar and adjoining Uttar Pradesh which is pulling in moisture from the Bay of Bengal.
The satellite IR image (of 0530 IST/ 10Apr2012) shows intense convective clouding over Darjeeling and Sikkim.


Praful Rao