Kolkata, Around 12,000 people living along the Sankosh in West Bengal’s Alipurduar district downstream of Bhutan were shifted to safer locations on Friday after a rise in water level in the river due to a glacial lake outburst flood in the adjoining Himalayan kingdom, a senior official said.
The incident triggered flood alerts in parts of north Bengal and Assam, with authorities keeping a close watch on the water levels of rivers flowing down from the Himalayan kingdom.
National Disaster Response Force personnel have been deployed in the affected areas, while teams of the State Disaster Response Force , Civil Defence and local administration are also being mobilised to strengthen the emergency response, the official said, while talking about the arrangements made in the wake of the situation. The evacuation was carried out after a glacial lake in Bhutan’s Gasa region burst its banks on Thursday evening, unleashing a massive volume of water mixed with mud, rocks and debris into the downstream river systems, he said.
