Why North Bengal saw sudden, severe floods last week

India Oct 06, 2025

North Bengal just saw sudden, severe floods after a low-pressure weather system took an unexpected turn.
Instead of heading inland as predicted, it shifted toward north Bihar—thanks to retreating monsoon winds—and moved closer to North Bengal.
This brought intense rainfall and quickly led to flooding across the region.

Over 200mm of rain in around 24 hours

Districts like Darjeeling, Alipurduar, and Kalimpong were hit with over 200mm of rain in around 24 hours—Darjeeling recorded 261mm in 24 hours.
To top it off, extra water from rivers flowing in from Sikkim and Bhutan pushed water levels up even more, making the flooding much worse.
The system has now turned into a cyclonic circulation and is expected to weaken soon as it heads toward Bangladesh.