{"id":12297,"date":"2023-10-09T02:40:12","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T02:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/indian-flood-toll-up-to-77-as-waters-recede-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2023-10-09T02:40:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-09T02:40:12","slug":"indian-flood-toll-up-to-77-as-waters-recede-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/indian-flood-toll-up-to-77-as-waters-recede-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"Indian flood toll up to 77 as waters recede | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At least 77 people are confirmed dead in the floods that hit India’s northeast, authorities said Sunday, with destroyed roads and bridges leaving thousands more still cut off despite waters receding.<\/p>\n

Violent torrents struck Sikkim state on Wednesday after a high-altitude glacial lake suddenly burst.<\/p>\n

Scientists warn that similar disasters will become an increasing danger across the Himalayas as global temperatures rise and ice melts, spurred by climate change.<\/p>\n

“A total of 29 bodies have been retrieved from different parts of Sikkim,” state relief commissioner Anilraj Rai told AFP<\/em> by phone.<\/p>\n

Read more:\u00a0Indian rescuers struggle to reach flood-hit areas where over 100 are missing<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In neighbouring West Bengal state, Jalpaiguri district police told AFP<\/em> that another 48 bodies had been recovered.<\/p>\n

More than 100 people are still missing, according to official figures.<\/p>\n

Water levels along the Teesta river “returned to normal” four days after the floods hit, an official from Sikkim’s state disaster control room told AFP<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The office said more than 2,500 people stranded in the floods had been rescued.<\/p>\n

Also read:\u00a0Death toll in India glacial lake flood hits 40<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

But evacuations have been complicated by the destruction of roads, bridges and telephone lines across much of Sikkim.<\/p>\n

Another 3,000 people were still stranded in several relief camps in the state’s north with airlift rescues delayed by bad weather, the office said.<\/p>\n

More than 1,200 houses were damaged by the floods, according to the state government.<\/p>\n

Among the dead were eight Indian army soldiers posted to Sikkim, which sits on India’s remote frontiers with Nepal and China and boasts a sizeable military presence.<\/p>\n

India’s defence ministry said in a Saturday statement that the floods had washed away “firearms and explosives” from military camps.<\/p>\n

Local media reports on Friday said that two people had been killed and four others injured by a mortar shell that exploded while flowing through the flood waters in West Bengal.<\/p>\n

The water surge came after intense rainfall burst the high-altitude Lhonak Lake, which sits at the base of a glacier in peaks surrounding the world’s third-highest mountain, Kangchenjunga.<\/p>\n

Water powered downstream, adding to a river already swollen by monsoon rains, damaging a dam and sweeping away houses.<\/p>\n

Himalayan glaciers are melting faster than ever due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters, according to the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) research group.<\/p>\n

“The root cause is climate change,” ICIMOD’s Arun Bhakta Shrestha told AFP<\/em> on Thursday. “Similar glacial lake outbursts flood events are very likely.”<\/p>\n

Earth’s average surface temperature has risen nearly 1.2 degrees Celsius since pre-industrial times but high-mountain regions around the world have warmed at twice that pace, climate scientists say.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n