The story so far: More than 25 people have been confirmed dead, and many more are missing from a massive flood that resulted from a glacier-lake outburst in Sikkim in the early hours of October 4. The voluminous outflow has destroyed the Chungthang dam, which is critical to the Teesta 3 hydropower project, and rendered several hydropower projects along the river dysfunctional.
What is a glacier lake outburst?
Technically called a Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), these are instances of large lakes formed from the melting of glaciers, suddenly breaking free of their moraine — natural dams that are formed from rock, sediment and other debris.
