The downpour across Darjeeling hills triggered at least 493 landslides simultaneously during the early hours of Sunday, preliminary official records suggest.
Continuous rain of almost 260mm within a span of 12 hours from Saturday triggered these landslides across the hills, pointing to the gravity of the destruction.
A total of 33 people have lost their lives across north Bengal during the disaster, with the highest number of deaths in Mirik subdivision, 11. Mirik recorded 88 landslides.
Records suggest Jorebunglow-Sukhipokhari block registered the highest number of landslides, 260.
While more than 542 houses have been damaged during the Sunday disaster across the hills, Sukhiapokhri-Jorebunglow block registered a total damage of 108 houses followed by 72 in Kurseong block and 37 in Mirik block.
More than 67 roads have been damaged across Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts.
“The figures, however, are not final. We are still in the process of updating the same,” said an official.
An official of the district administration said that after clearing the landslide debris from all the main roads of the district, they were now clearing roads in other areas.
Repair work on Rohini Road, which connects Siliguri with Darjeeling, also started from Wednesday.
So did the construction of a temporary bridge over the Dudhia river that will connect Mirik with Siliguri.
“We have been prioritising on three major issues — one, ensuring safety of the affected people by shifting them into safer places, second, arranging medical teams for providing proper healthcare facilities, and third, repairing damaged houses so that those displaced can be rehabilitated immediately,” Richard Lepcha, the subdivisional officer of Darjeeling, said.
“Currently more than 30 excavators have been pressed into service to clear the roads,” said Lepcha.
Around 340 people have taken shelter in 11 relief camps across Darjeeling district.
Ajoy Edwards, the GTA Sabha member, has demanded that the hill body hold an emergency meeting of the Sabha to promptly coordinate relief and rehabilitation measures.