A glacial lake outburst in Bhutan has triggered evacuations along the Sankosh river in North Bengal and a flood alert in Lower Assam, with no casualties reported so far.
A glacial lake in northern Bhutan burst its banks on Thursday evening, and by Friday morning the effects were being felt well beyond the Himalayan foothills. Villages along the Sankosh river in North Bengal were being emptied as a precaution, and disaster teams in Lower Assam were on standby. No deaths or injuries had been reported by Friday morning. What officials fear is a sudden rise in water levels once the flood reaches the plains.
What happened at Shintaphu Lake
The outburst occurred on the evening of October 29 at Shintaphu Lake (spelt Sintaphu in some Bhutanese reports) in Gasa district. Open Magazine, citing Daily Bhutan, reported that the floodwater damaged the road to Laya, one of Bhutan's most remote highland settlements, and later swept away the Gasa Tshachu hot spring complex.
A stretch of the Punakha-Gasa highway was also washed out and closed to traffic. The lake is on Bhutan's list of 17 potentially dangerous glacial lakes, and specialists studied it in 2023. The cause of the breach, the exact volume of water and the full extent of the damage are yet to be confirmed. PTI, via Oneindia, put the release at nearly 7.4 million cubic metres, flowing into the Mo river and onward to the Sankosh.
How North Bengal and Assam are preparing
The Hindu reported that residents of riverbank villages in Alipurduar were seen leaving their homes with their cattle after the administration issued evacuation instructions. A special advisory from India's Central Water Commission, as reported by ANI, warned that the Sankosh could rise suddenly in Alipurduar in West Bengal and Dhubri in Assam. West Bengal minister Nisith Pramanik asked people in the river's catchment areas, including Tufanganj in Cooch Behar, to move to safety, with SDRF and NDRF teams on alert, PTI said.
Officials said the surge could reach the border within six to eight hours. In Assam, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said response teams were ready in Dhubri and Kokrajhar. The state disaster authority said no evacuation had begun there and river levels had not yet risen.
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