Mina Tamang of Singtam town in Sikkim could only think of grabbing her two grandchildren aged one and three when whistles warning of an impending danger grew louder in the dead of night.

“We did hear the whistle around 1 am but we did not take it too seriously as such warnings are not too uncommon. However, when the whistles grew louder and longer I only thought of grabbing my grandchildren and running to safety,” said Mina who was trembling even hours after coming to safer grounds.

Mina who is in her late 60s suffers from heart ailments but was forced to navigate through dark alleys with the infants with a "blank mind".

Mina who stays with her daughter-in-law and son could salvage nothing. Her daughter-in-law is pregnant. “Everything is gone. My house is gone. I could salvage nothing,” said Mina.

Singtam is situated at 1,300ft and many there lie on the bank of the Teesta that overflew following a cloudburst at the glacier-fed South Lhonak lake in the Himalayan state.

Indreni Bridge and L.D. Kazi Bridge over the Teesta at Singtam were washed away. The entire town was affected by the flood waters.

“I had not seen anything like this before,” said Meena who is taking shelter at Thakurbari. Relief camps have also been set up at Singtam Senior Secondary School, Singtam Nepali Bhawan and Sikkim Supreme factory.

Arun Subba, a resident of Mudrahati in Singtam, played a pivotal role in saving many lives.

“It must have been around 2am when we found the river swelling. We climbed out of the ground floor and I, along with my friends like Dinesh Pradhan and Mohan Chhetri, tried to help as many people come to safer ground as possible,” said Subba.

Seven persons trapped at Sneha Kinetic Power Project in neighboring Dikchu have been evacuated.