Cloudburst In Sikkim Triggers Flash Floods: What Is Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF)?

At Least 23 Army Personnel And 20 Civilians Are Missing In Sikkim After A Cloudburst Triggered Flash Floods In The Teesta River. A Massive Search Has Been Launched To Locate...

Zaheer Hussain
October 5, 2023
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At Least 23 Army Personnel And 20 Civilians Are Missing In Sikkim After A Cloudburst Triggered Flash Floods In The Teesta River. A Massive Search Has Been Launched To Locate The Missing People, The Army And The Local Administration Have Said.

Cloudburst In Sikkim Triggers Flash Floods – What Is Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF)?

Why In The News?

At Least 23 Army Personnel And 20 Civilians Are Missing In Sikkim After A Cloudburst Triggered Flash Floods In The Teesta River. A Massive Search Has Been Launched To Locate The Missing People, The Army And The Local Administration Have Said.
Sikkim Has Received Heavy Rain Through The Night. A Cloudburst Over Lhonak Lake In North Sikkim Caused It To Overflow And Pushed Up The Water Levels In Teesta River. The Teesta River Flows Through Sikkim And West Bengal Before Entering Bangladesh.

What Is Glacial Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF)?

Glacial Lakes, Like The South Lhonak Lake, Are Large Bodies Of Water That Sit In Front Of, On Top Of, Or Beneath A Melting Glacier. As They Grow Larger, They Become More Dangerous Because Glacial Lakes Are Mostly Dammed By Unstable Ice Or Sediment Composed Of Loose Rock And Debris.
In Case The Boundary Around Them Breaks, Huge Amounts Of Water Rush Down The Side Of The Mountains, Which Could Cause Flooding In The Downstream Areas. This Is Called Glacial Lake Outburst Floods Or GLOF.
GLOF Can Be Triggered By Several Reasons, Including Earthquakes, Extremely Heavy Rains And Ice Avalanches. In 2013, One Such Event Took Place In Uttarakhand’s Kedarnath When The Region Witnessed Flash Floods Along With A GLOF Caused By The Chorabari Tal Glacial Lake, Killing Thousands Of People.

Did The Sikkim Government Take Any Action?

Yes, It Did. In 2016, Members Of The Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority And Sikkim’s Department Of Science And Technology And Climate Change, Among Others, Decided To Syphon Off Lake Water From The South Lhonak Lake.
The Technique Was Implemented Under The Supervision Of Innovator Sonam Wangchuk. Authorities Installed Three Eight-inch Wide And 130-140 Meters Long High-density Polyethylene (HDPE) Pipes In The Lake To Take Out The Water. They Syphoned Off 150 Litres Of Water Per Sec.

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Zaheer Hussain

Senior Lecturer General Studies, SSBCrackExams, Passionate Teacher, Masters in Public Administration, Expertise in Polity, History and Current Affairs. Loves Food and traveling Solo.