DARJEELING: Incessant rainfall over the past three days triggered devastating mudslides in Darjeeling that left at least 30 dead and many missing. Rescue operations were severely hampered as heavy slush that poured down the hillside washed away roads connecting the worst affected areas. The situation is likely to get worse as the meteorogical office issued an alert of heavy rainfall for the next five days in Darjeeling and other parts of north Bengal.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee cut short her Birbhum administrative meeting on Wednesday morning and heading for North Bengal from Murshidabad. State home secretary had earlier rushed to Darjeeling to coordinate relief and rescue operations.

The maximum casualty happened in Saureni gram panchayat located along the road to Mirik via Dudhia. At least 20 people are feared dead, buried under debris that hurtled down the hillside. Till reports last came in, eight bodies had been recovered. Of them, three are from Takling Limbugaon, four from Groundgaon and one from Toklanggaon. The remaining 14 presumed buried in the mud and debris are all from Limbugaon. "The victims were buried in their sleep as the late night mudslide flattened the hutments at the foothills," said a local.

In Kalimpong, seven are feared dead though five bodies have been recovered so far. The dead were identified as Jaiprakash Rai (60) from Algarah, couple Sanjoy Gazmer and Priya Sarki from 11th Mile Saheed Park and Amrit Rai (10) from 7th Mile. Amirt's parents Ramesh and Kusum are missing. One person was also killed at Kolbang near Gorubathan on way to popular honeymoon spots Lava and Lolegaon. At Jaldhaka near Darjeeling, seven persons were reported missing after being washed away in the mudslide. One person was also killed and three others went missing at Domohoni near Jalpaiguri while attempting to gather logs floating down the Teesta river.

With torrential downpour since Sunday evening, a disaster was waiting to happen as copious quantities of rainwater led to rapid soil erosion along the hill slopes. By Tuesday, there were ominous signs of mud-streams springing up all over the Hills. The threshold point was breached sometime late on Tuesday night when the intensity of rain increased. The huge volume of water mixed with the wet loose earth, causing it to rapidly liquefy. This slush turned killer as it flowed downhill, gathering boulders, trees and other debris on the way.

The SSB and state police have begun the rescue operations at Mirik, Kalimpong and Sukhiapokhri areas of Darjeeling. But progress was slow as the mudslides had washed away most roads, slowing down progress and hampering transport of heavy earth-moving equipment. The disruption of roads has also left several hundred off-season tourists stranded. "Our priority is to rescue people and provide them with medical aid. The biggest challenge is to get through the worse hit areas amidst the incessant rains," North Bengal development minister, Gautam Deb said.

The Rakti Bridge connecting Mirik with Siliguri has been swept away by the flood near Simulbari. Darjeeling district magistrate Anurag Srivastava said the administration had sought Army's help to restore road connectivity.

"Roads have been damaged at several places and we are trying to move earth removing equipment to the affected areas," said Srivastava. National Highway 10 connecting Sikkim to the rest of the country was also affected by landslides at Sethijhora.

Regional meteorogical centre director GC Debnath warned the situation could turn worse with Darjeeling being pelted with heavy rainfall over the next five days as well. "Continuous heavy rainfall causes mudslide. We have therefore issued an alert to the Darjeeling district administration," he said. Kurseong has received 185.30 mm rain in the last 24 hours while Kalimpong received 137 mm, Siliguri 92.40 mm and Darjeeling 42.30 mm.

While the situation remained grim in Darjeeling, a flood like situation was rapidly developing in Jalpaiguri. The Teesta river in spate destroyed houses in Dhupguri and Biren bustee located along the river bank. With the water level breaching the danger level, the administration began evacuating people from other habitations along the river.

