New Delhi : Floods and landslides unleashed by unrelenting rain in India’s eastern hill region of Darjeeling and neighbouring Nepal killed more than 70 people after washing away homes, roads and bridges, authorities said.
In Nepal, the death toll in floods and landslides rose to 50, with the eastern district of Ilam bordering India recording 37 deaths, a spokesperson for the Armed Police Force said.
At least 18 people died in Darjeeling and several people were still missing on Monday, as relief and restoration work got underway, said local government officials in India’s state of West Bengal, warning that the death toll was likely to rise as details flowed in from remote areas.
“Two iron bridges have collapsed, several roads have been damaged and flooded, huge tracts of land… have been inundated,” Mamata Banerjee, the state’s chief minister, said in a post on X.
The districts of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, which are home to tea plantations, were among those affected, she said, adding that a total of 23 deaths have been reported across northern West Bengal state since the weekend.
More rain is expected after the weekend’s “extremely heavy” downpours in Darjeeling, said H R Biswas, the regional weather head in the state’s capital of Kolkata.
