Indian Army personnel look for dead bodies on the bank of Teesta river in Rongpo, near Gangtok in Sikkim. File
| Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) has advised general insurers and standalone health insurance companies to expedite survey of all claims related to the recent devastating floods in Sikkim as well as disburse the payments.

“It needs to be ensured that all claims are surveyed immediately and claim payments/on account payments are disbursed at the earliest,” the regulator said.

In a circular, addressed to the CEO/CMDs, it advised the insurers to mobilise all resources towards ensuring immediate service response, including outsourced functions such as surveyors, loss adjustors and investigators. If required, such professionals from neighbouring States may also be deployed.

The regulator said insurers are also expected to review and streamline processing of claims by ensuring “only such documentation necessary to substantiate claim quantum to ensure expeditious final settlement”.

Taking note of widespread loss to property (homes and businesses) and infrastructure following floods in the Himalayan State earlier this month, IRDAI Executive Director (Non Life) Randip Singh Jagpal, in the circular, listed a few measures, including the insurers nominating a senior executive to oversee the claims response and set up special claims desk in the affected areas. Besides speeding up processing of claims and settlements, such desks will help facilitate release of on-account interim payments to assist early reinstatement of property/businesses.

IRDAI said the insurers ought to encourage policyholders to use electronic communication, wherever possible, for correspondence while initiating claim and filing relevant documents.

The Teesta basin in the Sikkim Himalaya is home to several glacial lakes in the high-altitude, glacier-covered terrain. Among them, South Lhonak Lake stands out as one of the largest and fastest-growing.

Although these lakes are primarily situated in remote and uninhabited mountain valleys, the consequences of glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) can extend over tens of kilometres downstream, resulting in loss of human life and significant damage to property and infrastructure. A GLOF occurs when the weak, unstable natural moraine that holds a glacial lake fails can no longer hold the water in the glacial lake. Events like earthquakes, cloudbursts, and avalanches can trigger a GLOF by breaking the moraine.

A recent cloudburst above South Lhonak Lake caused it to breach its embankment, dumping the water into a channel that caused the water in the Chungthang dam reservoir to overflow as well as the reservoir itself to suffer damage. All this then triggered abrupt and devastating flash floods in different parts of the hilly state of Sikkim.

Not just extreme weather

Meteorologists have stressed that while existing weather conditions were indeed favourable for heavy to extremely heavy rainfall, since a low-pressure atmospheric system was nearby, the flash floods can’t be solely attributed to the singular instance of extreme weather. Climate change has played a big part in altering the frequency and amplifying the intensity of such weather phenomena – and human activities on unstable terrain have made their effects more devastating.

“We all know that in a warming world, the potential for cloudbursts, extreme rains, and GLOF has gone up,” Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, Pune. “Ocean warming has already increased moisture levels over the region. The low-pressure area near the region further increased the moisture, [providing] a conducive environment for torrential rains.”

An expected disaster

As it happens, scientists had anticipated the Sikkim disaster as early as 2021, when, in a study published in the journal Geomorphology, they highlighted the expanding dimensions of the Lhonak glacial lake, which rendered a GLOF more likely due to cloudbursts.

“There has been a substantial increase in the number of glacial lakes as the glaciers are melting due to global warming,” Farooq Azam, a glaciologist at the Indian Institute of Technology, Indore, said. “When the glaciers advance, they erode the river bed, leading to the deepening of the river. Also, climate change has resulted in erratic precipitation, including events like cloudbursts, as we saw in Sikkim, leading to the partial breach of the moraine dam.”

Dr. Azam added that eroding glaciers apply pressure on the bedrock, which then produces more silt: “Whenever there is a flash flood, you will witness more silt and debris flowing downhill, aggravating the destruction caused by floods and landslides.”

‘Critical’ lakes

Glaciers in the area are melting and retreating, which has led to the accelerated growth in the number and size of proglacial lakes (i.e. lakes growing in front of the glaciers). And as the glaciers continue to recede, the expansion of these lakes is also linked to the topography of the exposed bed. For example, if the bed contains a depression that becomes exposed, water can collect there and ‘expand’ the lake.

As the lakes become bigger, the chances of a GLOF increase as well.

The 2021 study also singled 12 lakes out as ‘critical’ and 93 as ‘potentially critical’, out of 251 glacial lakes larger than 0.01 sq. km. The criticality referred to the probability of a lake developing an outburst followed by “potential downstream exposure”.

In another similar study, published in May 2022, researchers from the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, evaluated the potential downstream impact of 329 lakes across the Indian Himalaya, and found that 36 were exposed to potential avalanche-impact zones. This study also identified South Lhonak Lake as potentially dangerous, with a high outburst probability. In the last 29 years, the length of the glacier next to which the lake is growing reduced from 6.4 km to 5.1 km even as the water-body grew from 0.42 sq. km in 1990 to 1.35 sq. km^{in 2019.}

Rainfall and earthquakes

“Eastern Himalayas are dominated by the monsoon, which has over the period become more erratic and unpredictable,” Dr. Azam said. “Snowfall is food for glaciers, but it is now replaced by rainfall, that too erratic. There are more days of heavy rain and [the number of] dry periods is also increasing. Rise in global warming has led to rise in glacial melt.”

Geologists have found that as glaciers recede, they deposit large quantities of sediment – composed of an unstable combination of soil and rocks – in the upper regions of the Himalaya. In these circumstances, even a small amount of rainfall can dislodge boulders and debris and leave them to flow downstream. As a result, scientists deemed in the May 2022 paper the upper Himalayan region to be highly unsuitable for the construction of dams and tunnels.

Another threat like rain is seismic activity: earthquakes can deteriorate the structural stability of the moraines. They may not necessarily result in outburst floods but they could nonetheless trigger significant ice and/or rock avalanches. And this threat is worth paying attention to because South Lhonak Lake is located in an area characterised by a high level of seismic activity. According to the National Institute of Disaster Management, Sikkim straddles land classified as seismic zones IV and V – i.e. having the highest level of seismicity.

Several earthquakes in the past have also had their epicentres close to the lake.

Landscape of uncertainties

“[We] don’t have high-resolution monitoring systems that could tell us what happened, how it happened, and to what extent climate change aggravated the scenario,” Dr. Koll said about the Sikkim GLOF. “We know the Himalayan region is prone to cloudbursts, but we cannot identify a hotspot. Thus, a proper monitoring network is the need of the hour.”

Scientists have also articulated the need for more research to better understand the area’s climate sensitivity. There are more than 54,000 glaciers across the Hindu Kush Himalaya but only a few are actually monitored – 1-5%, according to Anjal Prakash, director of the Bharti Institute of Public Policy, Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, and a coauthor of assessment reports prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

On the other hand, construction activities in the Himalayan region – especially hydroelectric power generation facilities – need to be moderated against the uncertainty over how the mountainous system will respond.

“The location, size, and scale of these projects, the knowledge and experience of the developers, the capability of project-regulating agencies, and the way projects have been designed, and the technology used have been questioned all across the fragile Himalayan ecology,” development economist Mahendra Lama said.

“Unfortunately, in many cases, these issues come up for public discussion only in the aftermath of disasters.”

The FIR filed by the Delhi Police cites tax evasion cases being faced by companies such as Xiaomi and Vivo in India. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

FIR links NewsClick case to legal aid for Chinese companies

The Delhi police have levelled a wide range of charges in their First Information Report (FIR) against NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha, American millionaire Neville Roy Singham, and activist Gautam Navlakha, a shareholder of Newsclick who is presently under house arrest as accused in a terror case. These three individuals have been named as the accused in the FIR.

Asian Games | Jyothi, Deotale claim hat-trick of gold as archers return with record nine medals

Ojas Deotale and Jyothi Surekha Vennam claimed a hat-trick of gold medals, while Aditi Swami bagged a bronze as Indian archers signed off with a historic haul of nine medals at the Asian Games, on October 7. India’s previous best was at Incheon 2014 when the country had won three medals.

Canada moves diplomats out of India to Singapore, Malaysia: report

Canada has shifted a number of its diplomats stationed at missions in India outside of New Delhi to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, CTV news of Canada has reported citing sources. The report came a day after External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi informed that the two sides were in conversation to ensure “parity” in the presence of diplomatic staff in each other’s missions. 

Sikkim flash flood toll rises to 26, search on for missing

Army and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, both on foot and in boats, have recovered 26 bodies, including those of seven Army men from the slush and debris of the flash flood which swept through Sikkim’s Teesta river, officials said October 6.

Strictly followed all aspects of Indian law, says NewsClick investor 

Worldwide Media Holdings (WMH), the investor in NewsClick, on Friday said it “strictly followed all aspects of Indian law” before investing in the news portal in 2018 and that false allegations continued to circulate despite all the facts WMH had given to the Indian authorities.

Congress workers protest against BJP’s depiction of Rahul Gandhi as Ravan

Congress workers took out spontaneous protests against the BJP for depicting former party chief Rahul Gandhi as “new age Ravan”, party general secretary K.C. Venugopal said on Friday. In a post on X, Mr. Venugopal also shared photos of protests in State units such as West Bengal and Delhi, among others. 

Election Commission briefs observers ahead of Assembly polls in five states

Ahead of Assembly polls in Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana, the Election Commission on Friday conducted a briefing session for around 1,180 observers who will monitor polls to ensure the process is free and fair. 

Sharad Pawar meets Kharge and Rahul, discusses road ahead for INDIA bloc

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi at Mr. Kharge’s official residence on October 6, and is learnt to have discussed the next course of action for the Indian National Developmental, Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

MGNREGS runs out of funds; Rural Development Ministry seeks supplementary budget 

Six months into the financial year, the flagship rural employment programme, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), has run out of funds and as per the statistics put out by the Ministry on its website is running a deficit of ₹6,146.93 crore. 

New Maldives President won’t be anti-India or pro-China: Mohamed Nasheed

The new Maldives President-elect’s transition team hopes to invite Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the swearing-in ceremony of Mohamed Muizzu in Male next month, says Maldives speaker and former President Mohamed Nasheed. In an interview to The Hindu, Mr. Nasheed — who has broken away from outgoing President Ibu Solih and his Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) to form his own party, which could join the incoming government — said that he would also send an invitation to Mr. Modi for the ceremony expected to be held on November 17.  

Change in Iran ‘irreversible’, says 2023 Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi

Rights campaigner and 2023 Nobel Peace laureate Narges Mohammadi said in a September interview with AFP that she retained hope for change in Iran, despite having no prospect of release from prison and enduring the pain of separation from her family. In the interview, where Mohammadi gave written answers to AFP from Evin prison in Tehran, she insisted the protest movement that erupted one year ago in Iran against the Islamic republic is still alive.

₹2,000 notes worth ₹3.43 lakh crore have come back: RBI Governor

Governor Shaktikanta Das on October 6 said ₹3.43 lakh crore of ₹2,000 denomination notes have come back to the system so far, and reminded the public that they can return the withdrawn notes at 19 RBI offices from October 8.

Stock markets rally after RBI keeps repo rate unchanged

Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty rallied for a second straight session on Friday after the Reserve Bank maintained the status quo on policy rates, resulting in gains for rate-sensitive sectors like financial, realty and auto.

Hangzhou Asian Games | Aman fights his way to bronze as Bajrang finishes without a medal

Aman Sehrawat booked his Asian Games ticket the hard way but there was always a question whether he would be as good as Ravi Dahiya, Olympic silver medalist and the man who rules in his weight category. On October 6, the 20-year old proved he was with a bronze in the 57kg here that stood out among the three India won in wrestling on the day for Aman’s resilience and determination. 

Hangzhou Asian Games | Satwik-Chirag enter final, keep first-ever gold medal hopes alive

‘Ice and fire’ was how Sattwiksairaj Rankireddy described his doubles partnership with friend Chirag Shetty as he embraced him. Satwik is the Iceman to Chirag’s Maverick. 

New Delhi:
At least 53 people, including seven soldiers, have died in the Sikkim flash floods, with 27 more dead bodies found in the Teesta river bed in neighbouring West Bengal over the last three days. Seven of these bodies have been identified.

Here are 10 points on this big story:

Sikkim:

Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang has blamed “inferior construction” by the previous state government for the destruction of the Chungthang Dam – a 1200 MW hydroelectric project washed away Wednesday in flash floods triggered by a glacial lake outburst over South Lhonak Lake. Mr Tamang told NDTV “sub-standard” work by the earlier Sikkim Democratic Front government, which was in power for over 24 years, is to blame for a tragedy that has claimed 19 lives so far.

“Dam is fully damaged… washed out. Disaster in the lower belt is because of this. Yes… there was a cloudburst and the Lhonak Lake burst… but, because of inferior and sub-standard construction by previous government, the dam broke and even more floods hit Lower Sikkim with violence,” he said.

The Chief Minister also said “major damage” had been reported from across the state.

“Major damage in areas like the Chunthang Dam but do not know full extent because areas in Lower Sikkim are still cut-off. Roads have been washed out, bridges destroyed. 13 bridges over Teesta have been washed away,” Mr Tamang explained.

READ |A Decade Before Sikkim Flash Floods, There Were Warnings

He said his government is working with the centre to airlift relief and rescue teams but bad weather had hampered operations on Thursday. “Today weather has improved, so we will step up efforts.”

“First priority are 3,000 stranded tourists,” Mr Tamang said, “We will rescue them first.”

READ |19 Dead, 3,000 Stranded In Sikkim, Fresh Alert Issued: 10 Points

On rebuilding efforts, the Chief Minister said, “We will set up a team of technical experts and proceed based on their inputs. But, I have to tell you, this is a major disaster. It is major.”

Mr Tamang said he had spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, and that they had offered all possible support. Shortly after the disaster the Prime Minister posted on X (formerly Twitter), “Spoke to Sikkim CM… Assured all possible support… pray for safety and well-being of all those affected.”

At least 19 people, including seven soldiers, died in the floods that ravaged Sikkim early Wednesday, sweeping away farms and villages. More than 100 people, including 15 Army personnel, are still missing. So far around 2,500 people have been evacuated and nearly 6,000 shifted to relief camps.

READ | ISRO’s Satellite Images Show How Sikkim’s Lhonak Lake Burst, Caused Floods

The Sikkim government has warned of another potential glacial lake outburst; Shako Cho Lake near Lachen is at risk and authorities have begun evacuating residents from surrounding areas.

READ |Mortar Shell Carried By Floodwaters Explodes In Bengal’s Jalpaiguri, 2 Dead

The government has also warned of “stray explosions” after the floods hit an Army ammunitions depot. Two people have already died after they were hit by explosives that were washed away.

NDTV is now available on WhatsApp channels. Click on the link to get all the latest updates from NDTV on your chat.

New Delhi:
At least 19 people, including six soldiers, have died in the Sikkim flash floods, and 103 people, including 16 soldiers, remain missing. Over 3,000 tourists are stranded, 2,500 people have been evacuated and 6,000 have been moved to relief camp.

Here are 10 points on this big story:

Gangtok:

All government and private schools, colleges and universities in Sikkim will remain closed till October 15 due to the prevalence of inclement weather, according to a revised circular by the state Education Department on Thursday.

The circular comes within hours of Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang’s directive for the closure of schools, colleges and universities in Sikkim till further notice due to the unprecedented disaster caused by flash floods in the Teesta river basin.

The Education Department, in a circular on Wednesday, had earlier ordered closure of government and private schools till October 8.

Fourteen bodies have been found so far while 102 people, including 22 army personnel, remained missing after a cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in North Sikkim in the early hours of Wednesday triggered a flash flood in the Teesta river basin, officials said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Gangtok:

Fourteen people have been killed and 102 others, including 22 soldiers, are missing after flash floods hit Sikkim early on Wednesday. According to figures released by the state government, 26 people have been injured so far and over 2,000 evacuated so far. Eleven bridges have been washed away and a population of over 22,000 has been affected, the state government has said.

Led by the Army and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), multiple agencies are carrying out search operations in the affected areas. The Indian Air Force is also on standby. Visuals shared by people on social media capture the scale of the devastation in the Northeastern state.

Pakyong in east Sikkim, in the foothills of the Himalayas, has reported the most deaths – seven. As many as 59 people are missing in the district; these include the 23 Army personnel.

Over 3,000 tourists are feared stranded in the different parts of the state, a popular holiday destination.

Explaining what led to the disaster, Sikkim Chief Secretary VB Pathak has said a cloudburst over Lhonak lake in northwest Sikkim raised water levels. The lake overflowed and water gushed towards the Teesta river, which flows through Sikkim and West Bengal before entering Bangladesh.

“Soon different parts of the Teesta basin reported a rise in water, with particularly alarming levels in Chungthang where the Teesta Stage 3 dam was breached,” he said.

With roads washed away and bridges damaged, state officials fear shortage of food supplies. The Army is assembling Bailey bridges — portable, prefabricated bridges — to restore connectivity to the affected areas.

As Teesta flows downstream from Sikkim to Bengal, sludge has entered homes near the state border. The NDTV visited Teesta Bazaar area in Bengal’s Kalimpong district, where the swollen river has deposited sludge in homes and damaged trees in its course. In some homes, sludge had filled up almost an entire floor. Many homes closer to the bank have been washed away.

New Delhi:

Nearly 65 per cent of Sikkim’s Lhonak Lake – around 105 hectares – has been drained after a cloudburst forced the water body to overflow and trigger flash floods in the Teesta River.

Temporal satellite images (referring to before-and-after) released Wednesday evening by space agency ISRO show dramatic changes in the volume of water in the lake; photos taken on September 17 and September 28 show the bullet-shaped lake holding 162.7 and 167.4 hectares, respectively.

An image taken at 6 AM Wednesday morning – after the cloudburst and flash flood wreaked havoc in the state, washing away large parts of a hydroelectric project and leaving 49 people missing – shows the lake reduced by more than half and with only an estimated 60.3 hectares of water in it.

READ | Cloudburst In Sikkim Triggers Flash Floods, Soldiers Among Missing

“Temporal changes in the lake area – as on September 17, September 28, and October 4. It is observed the lake is burst and about 105 hectares has been drained out, which might have created a flash flood downstream… will continue monitoring the lake using the satellite data,” ISRO said.

The floods have killed at least eight people, news agency PTI said citing unnamed officials who also said three bodies were found hundreds of kilometres downstream in north Bengal. The other five were found in the state’s Golitar and Singtam areas, Gangtok district officer Mahendra Chettri said.

23 soldiers are among those missing. The Army and local officials have launched a joint rescue op.

45 people have been rescued, of whom 18 have suffered injuries, PTI reported.

There was heavy rainfall in Sikkim overnight; the weather department said the northern part of the state, where the lake is, received nearly 50 mm from Sunday – 48 per cent more than normal.

READ | Parts Of Teesta River Dam Washed Away After Cloudburst In Sikkim

Other parts of the state received even more rain; eastern areas saw 315 per cent unseasonal rainfall while South Sikkim got a massive 943 per cent more. West Sikkim got 50 per cent extra rain.

The cloudburst over Lhonak Lake not only caused that to overflow but also pushed up water levels in the Teesta, which flows through Sikkim and Bengal before entering Bangladesh.

The overflowing Teesta also swept away parts of a dam at Chungthang, which is the state’s largest hydropower project. The Army said the level of water flowing through the dam led to a sudden increase of 15-20 feet downstream.

Visuals also showed catastrophic floods in North Sikkim’s Mangan district.

A steel bridge at Singtam, which is 30 km from Gangtok, was completely destroyed.

Sections of National Highway 10 were washed away and several other roads were damaged, making access to Gangtok, Pakyong, Namchi, Gyalshing, Soreng and Mangan districts extremely difficult.

Residents in low-lying areas of Chungthang and Singtam have been evacuated.

“Nobody has been injured but there is significant damage to public property. Relief operations are on,” Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang said during a visit to affected areas.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had spoken to the Chief Minister Tamang and assured him of support.

Kolkata:

A flash flood alert has been issued in the north and east districts of Sikkim on Wednesday after the water levels of the Teesta River rose to an alarming level overnight, authorities said.

The Sikkim administration has issued a high alert to the residents of the two districts as a sudden rise in the river’s water was witnessed after Tuesday night.

As per the state disaster authority, the flooding in the river occurred after a cloudburst in the northern part of the state’s Mangan district.

“Flooding of Teesta River Basin has occurred due to Cloud Burst in the Northern Part of Mangan District. All are advised to stay alert and avoid travel along the River Basin,” an alert message by Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority said.

As the water levels rose, connectivity to Chungthang town in North Sikkim has also been affected after a bridge linking the town to its surrounding areas was damaged.

An alert has been issued to all police stations in low-lying areas to ensure safety of all the residents. Those living on the banks of the Teesta river have also been advised to evacuate their homes to ensure their safety.