The Nationwide Distant Sensing Centre, one of many ISRO centres, has carried out a satellite-based examine on the outburst of the South Lhonak lake in Sikkim by acquiring temporal satellite tv for pc photographs (earlier than and after) over the water physique. In response to ISRO, about 105 hectares of space, which is sort of 65 per cent of Lhonak Lake, has been drained out.
“It’s noticed that Lake is Burst and about 105 hectares space has been drained out (28 September 2023 picture versus 04 October 2023) which could have created a flash flood downstream,” an ISRO assertion stated on Wednesday. The house company stated it’ll proceed monitoring the lake additional utilizing the satellite tv for pc knowledge.
A picture captured on Wednesday morning at 6 AM after the cloudburst and flash flood wreaked havoc within the state reveals the lake lowered by greater than half and with solely an estimated 60.3 hectares of water in it.
Not less than 10 individuals had been killed, and 82 others, together with 22 military personnel, are nonetheless lacking, because of a devastating flash flood brought on by a cloudburst over Lhonak Lake in north Sikkim within the early hours of Wednesday (October 4). Three of the our bodies had been found in north Bengal. As well as, one of many 23 military personnel reported lacking earlier within the day has been discovered. The flood, which started round 1:30 AM, was exacerbated by the discharge of water from the Chungthang dam, information company PTI reported citing officers.
The Sikkim authorities declared the pure catastrophe a state of calamity by way of an official notification. The surge in water circulate from the Teesta River resulted in in depth harm, together with the destruction of bridges, sections of NH-10, and the Chungthang Dam. A number of small villages, cities, and infrastructure tasks within the higher reaches of the river valley had been affected, notably main districts like Mangan, Gangtok, Pakyong, and Namchi.
The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s non secular chief, expressed his solidarity with the individuals of Sikkim. The Tibetan non secular chief, who has a whole bunch of hundreds of followers within the Himalayan state, expressed solidarity in a letter to Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang.
The Nationwide Catastrophe Administration Authority (NDMA) attributed the first causes of the flash floods in Sikkim to a mix of extra rainfall and a Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF) occasion on the South Lhonak lake in north Sikkim. Considerations had been raised in regards to the vulnerability of roughly 25 glacial lakes in Sikkim to such occasions.