You have a passenger plane in the open at a Kolkata airport struck by a bolt, a bridge in the Darjeeling hills that’s been carried off, and eight more lives lost to lightning in Jharkhand. It has made for a public safety crisis. Red and orange alerts are in place and for the next 48 hours or so, you can expect officials to be hard at work to see that roads are passable and those on the move are out of harm’s way.
Air safety scare in Kolkata
There was an incident on Friday at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport when a storm put a lightning bolt into an IndiGo flight (6E6068) that was tied to an aerobridge and due for Agartala.
Numbers from the ground were a little mixed as they confirmed everyone was out. The airport put it at 147 passengers being put on another plane; the ground crew had 141 and six of their own. Two of them walked away with minor injuries.
Those who were there say the cabin just went black. They put the emergency plan in motion and made sure the plane was secure before business as usual could resume while the checks were done.
Hills cut off as rivers swell
The Balason in the Darjeeling district ran over and took a hume pipe bridge at Dudhia with it, breaking one of the main connections to Siliguri and Mirik. We’re not seeing any traffic on the Mirik-Siliguri run anymore; if you need to get through, you’ll have to go the long way around Pankhabari and Kurseong.
The rain won’t let up and has caused some landslips to block in on National Highway 110 and the road to Siliguri-Kurseong near Mahanadi. You add in the downpour in Sikkim and Bhutan and the Teesta and the Balason are in a bit of a precarious spot.
Even in Himachal Pradesh, a landslide in Shimla after a heavy night of rain has put a stop to some vehicle movement. It’s a sign of how unstable things have gotten across the Himalayas.
Fatal lightning in Jharkhand
Local authorities in Jharkhand are putting the toll at eight from lightning. Among them are two women and a toddler of two.
Hazaribagh has seen the most with three. Then you have Palamu, Lohardaga, Ramgarh, West Singhbhum and Godda. If you are in the area, the message from first responders is to stay in during a thunderstorm.
Cities and airports battle water
Kolkata’s morning of it was too much for the drains in some places. You had standing water on Central Avenue, in Salt Lake and the IT sector in V. We put in the pumps and sent out some men, but for a few hours it was gridlock as people made their way through it.
Navi Mumbai International Airport had a roof leak that put a crimp in arrivals for a bit. We had to close baggage belts 5 and 6, but it was under control in 30 minutes. An hour later, we were back in business.
IMD alerts, rainfall figures and what comes next
The IMD has put a Red Alert on Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar for some very heavy, isolated rain. Orange for the rest of the hill stations like Darjeeling and Cooch Behar where you don’t want to be on a slope. And for South Bengal, including the city, hold on to your hat for the next 48 hours – there will be wind and storms.
If you look at the numbers, the precipitation in the hills has been off the charts. Siliguri-Darjeeling is at 240.6 mm and Champasari at 207. One price of this has been the Dudhia bridge, which is gone now and leaving us to make do with diversions.
We are asking people in the low-lying and hilly bits to think twice about travelling unless they have to. And to the rest of you, check with your airline or transport – things can turn on a dime.
To put it in perspective, here is the rundown:
– Red Alert: Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar
– Orange Alerts: Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Cooch Behar
– Dudhia hume pipe bridge is a no-go
– Siliguri-Kurseong road is out near Mahanadi
– No traffic between Mirik and Siliguri
Why it matters now
When you put together the lightning, the mud and the flooded streets, it’s a lot for our transit and tourist spots to handle. What happened with the plane in Kolkata, the bridge in the hills and the loss of life in Jharkhand isn’t something to be written off. It’s a reminder that we have to be on top of things for the rest of the monsoon.
Don’t be in a hurry; you can count on some detours and a wait until the rain lets up. Our view is that we need to be watchful for the next couple of days to make sure we don’t see any more of what we’ve seen in Jharkhand.
