Gangtok: As Sikkim received unprecedented rainfall on Thursday night, marking the arrival of monsoon, 90-year-old cattle herder Ash Lall Limboo, in West Sikkim’s Rimbi, died when he along with his cowshed was swept by the Rimbi River. The body was later recovered from the Namchi district on Friday afternoon.
Limboo was a resident of Darap village under the Gyalshing district.
Sikkim Police said, “It was learnt that the shed, which was built alongside the river, was swept away. The water level of the river has risen to its extreme level due to torrential rain for the last few days.”
Eyewitness accounts reveal that the river turned into a flash flood-like situation. Several visuals from Rolep in East Sikkim showed even an excavator next to the river being swept away. The Meyong river in the Mangan district is also in a spate.
The road connecting Singtam – Dikchu – Rangran – Mangan –Chungthang witnessed a number of landslides and road damage. The damage started at around 6:15 pm on June 15 on either side of Rangarang in Sikkim, when the road was blocked from both sides of the town due to landslides. Boulders and stones slid down the mountains and covered the entire road, making it impassable for traffic to move.
A flash flood on road Mangan to Chungthang washed away a portion of the road, and a small bridge along with it in North Sikkim.
In Chungthang, a landslide resulted in a truck getting submerged under the rubble and blocking the National Highway connecting Lachung and Lachen villages.
Several other roads remain blocked due to the bad weather. The road connecting Mangan to Dikchu road is blocked at Namok River and 4th-mile areas, a road from Phidang to Lum is blocked, and the Sangkalang to 12th mile in Upper Dzongu road is blocked at Mantam Lake area.
Dikchu to Gangtok via Rakdung-Tintek road is clear for light vehicles only. Also, Mangan to Chungthang road remains blocked at many stretches at the Wang River sliding area, near the Toong Check post with the Pegong River overflowing.
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Indian Meteorological Department in Sikkim informed that the threat of a heavier downpour and flash floods in Mangan District in North Sikkim remains a high possibility over the next few days.
IMD Sikkim director Gopinath Raha informed, “Lachung village received 13 cm rainfall last night, Chungthang in North Sikkim again received 11 cm rainfall, Gangtok also received 11 cm rainfall last night. Mangan town received 10 cm rainfall.”
He added that the heavy rainfall is not due to the cyclone affecting other parts of the country but due to the monsoon. He informed, “There is an upper airtract which extends from Sikkim to the Bay of Bengal, bringing in a lot of moisture from the Bay of Bengal.”
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