Md Mukhtar, 40, had no inkling that the cloudburst in Sikkim last Tuesday would change his world in Rangpo, the town on the Bengal-Sikkim border, within a few hours.

As the cloudburst triggered the Teesta's flash flood, Mukhtar clung to a tree for over five hours from 3am on Wednesday as the raging river swept away his three children.

“The river swallowed my house and swept away my children. They yelled at the top of their voices but I couldn’t save them,” he wept at his home in Siliguri.

So far, his son's body has been found. His two daughters are traceless.

Originally from Siliguri ward 4, Mukhtar was in Rangpo to work under a scrap dealer.

He had been staying there with his wife Rabina, their son and two daughters. Rajita Khatun, his mother, said that on that fateful night, Rabina was not there. "She had gone to her father’s place for a few days. Mukhtar was alone with the children," she said.

Mukhtar said that they were all asleep when around 2.30am on Wednesday his neighbour called out his name. He did not know anything about the cloudburst that occurred a few hours before, only that it was raining heavily.

"As my neighbour called me and I got down from the cot, I felt the floor was wet. I woke up my children and tried to lift them to the roof of my home, but water entered the room in a huge gush,” he said.

Within moments, his children — Nurjahan Khatun, 13, Nuraina Khatun, 11, and Md Mehebub, 9, — lost their balance and fell into the water.

“I could hear their screams but the water’s force was so intense that I could not grab them. They were swept away in front of my eyes. The walls and windows of the room tumbled down and were washed away. I somehow managed to move outside and latch on to a tree,” said the grieving father.

Mukhtar said he did not know how he managed to muster some courage and climbed a tree.

"I held on to the tree firmly, as waves of the Teesta brushed against my feet," he said.

“There were around 40 houses in the locality and all were washed away. Amid the raging sound of the river, I could hear people shouting for help and running helter-skelter,” he said.

As the daylight broke, he saw that everything was underwater.

“I was up on the tree as the river was still flowing in full force. I had no idea how deep the water was. Eventually, some rescuers turned up and saved me around 8am or so,” said Mukhtar.

After his rescue, Mukhtar immediately started searching for his children.

Last Thursday, he found his son's body. His daughters are still missing, he said, his eyes welling up again.

“I don’t know whether they are alive. I hardly have any purpose to live,” said the bereaved father.