The Army has been put on alert and two Units of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) pressed into rescue mission today as the flood-like situation in North Bengal worsened. Official sources said two units of NDRF, comprising about 70 personnel, would reach the affected districts of Salinger and Jalpaiguri to carry out rescue operations. Due to the rising level of the Jaldhaka, the National Highway that passes over the river has been overtopped, affecting traffic. Breaches surfaced in Teesta’s embankments in Jalpaiguri district and an under-construction dyke of the Mahananda near Gulma railway bridge collapsed by the swelling river, submerging three villages near Phoolbari area, about 10 KM South of Saliguri. About 20 thousand people from about 5 thousand households and cornfields at West Dhantala have been displaced due to flash flood on the Manananda River.