Flooding caused by an overflowing glacial lake that broke through a major dam in India has caused 31 deaths. Relief camps have been set up to assist the thousands of people affected.
Ice-cold floodwaters swept through mountain towns in India’s Himalayan northeast, killing at least 31 people, washing away houses and bridges, and forcing thousands of people to leave their homes, officials said Friday. The flood began shortly after midnight Wednesday, when the waters of a glacial lake overflowed, cracking open Sikkim State's biggest hydroelectric dam and then cascading through towns in the valley below.
The floods also hit several army camps, burying vehicles in feet of mud, according to images released by the Indian military. The Press Trust of India news agency cited a statement by neighboring West Bengal state as saying that the bodies of four soldiers were found. However, it wasn’t immediately clear whether they were among the 22 missing soldiers, or had died separately. One soldier who had been reported missing on Wednesday was later rescued by authorities, the army said in a statement.
Despite risks to dams due to increasing frequency of extreme weather, the Indian federal government aims to increase India’s hydroelectric dam output by half, to 70,000 megawatts, by 2030. Disasters caused by landslides and floods are common in India’s Himalayan region during the June-September monsoon season. Scientists say they are becoming more frequent as global warming contributes to the melting of glaciers there.
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