Floods in India affect tea plantation areas, 18 dead already
Kyiv • UNN
In India, at least 18 people have died and infrastructure has been destroyed due to floods and landslides in the Darjeeling region. In Nepal, the number of victims of the disaster has risen to 50, 37 of whom died in Ilam district.
In India, at least 18 people have died as a result of floods and landslides caused by heavy rains in the mountainous Darjeeling region in the east of the country. Tea plantations have been affected, and water has washed away houses, roads, and bridges. In neighboring Nepal, the death toll from the disaster has already reached 50, Reuters reports, writes UNN.
Details
On Monday, several people were still considered missing, despite ongoing rescue and recovery efforts, officials from the local authorities of the Indian state of West Bengal said. They warned that the death toll was likely to rise as information came in from remote areas.
"Two iron bridges have collapsed, several roads have been damaged and flooded, huge tracts of land... have been inundated," Mamata Banerjee, the state's chief minister, wrote in a post on X.
She added that the affected districts included Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, and Alipurduar, where tea plantations are located.
Following "extremely heavy" rains in Darjeeling this weekend, more rains are expected, said H. R. Biswas, a regional meteorologist in the state capital, Kolkata.
Traffic on the highway was disrupted due to the collapse of an iron bridge over the Balason River, connecting the plain city of Siliguri with the mountain town of Mirik, causing many roads to collapse.
A local emergency management official said that roads were blocked with debris, preventing rescuers from reaching many locations in the remote area.
The mountain resort of Darjeeling in the Himalayas is famous for its tea and attracts tourists with breathtaking views of Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest peak in the world. Banerjee urged tourists to stay put until they are evacuated.
Situation in Nepal
In Nepal, the death toll from floods and landslides has risen to 50, including 37 killed in separate landslides in the Ilam district in the east of the country on the border with India, a police armed forces official said.
Rescuers are clearing debris in the area, searching for survivors, and clearing blocked roads after landslides washed away houses in several villages, district official Bholanath Guragain said.