The Kaljani and Torsha rivers which skirt Alipurduar and Cooch Behar towns, respectively, spilled over and flooded adjoining areas, including eight wards of Alipurduar town on Saturday, as monsoon downpour in sub-Himalayan Bengal and Sikkim continued for the fourth day.
On Saturday morning, the water levels of the Kaljani prompted state irrigation officials to announce a red alert. Soon, water entered low-lying areas and flooded eight of 20 wards of Alipurduar. “Around 3,000 houses are waterlogged and 10,000 residents are affected,” said a source in the civic body.
Civic chairman Prasenjit Kar and SDO Biplab Sarkar visited the areas in boats. Five boats distributed food. “Eight pump sets are flushing out water from the wards,” said Kar.
The Torsha flooded low-lying areas of Cooch Behar such as Debibari, Ranibagan and Fansirghat.
Their residents have left their homes and have taken shelter on the embankment.
“Relief camps have been opened for the affected families. Policemen are keeping watch in the flooded areas,” said Rabindranath Ghosh, the chairman of Cooch Behar municipality.
