The Army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), fire service personnel and local police station personnel have been rushed to the areas of the State affected by Thursday night’s heavy rainfall to launch relief and rescue operations.
At least 12 persons have died while 70 are feared to have remained buried in debris and 35 have been left either missing or injured in Chamoli and Pithoragarh districts, said IG (law and order) Deepam Seth on Friday.
Three persons died in Naulada under Nachani police station area in Pithoragarh district. Four houses collapsed while one house partially collapsed at Naulada. Team recovered the carcass of a goat.
Mode of communication collapsed and it was proving difficult to quantify the loss of lives and damage wrought by the heavy downpour.
Garhwal Range IG Sanjay Kumar Gunjyal said that SDRF personnel have already been sent to the disaster affected and disaster- prone area of the state. They are in the thick of relief and rescue operation going on in the disaster-affected areas of the State, he said.
He further said that the weather condition remaining adverse has been affecting the functioning of the forces, adding that roads are blocked at various places in the disaster affected areas. Besides, till noon the choppers have not landed due to the same reason, he said.
Three sub-teams of SDRF personnel who had flown in choppers from Jolly Grant airport and Sahastradhara helipad could not have landed at the disaster affected areas by noon due to the inclement weather.
He affirmed that char dham yatra of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Yamnotri and Gangotri is on. However, he said that several of the pilgrims had been stranded in Chamoli district due the roads being blocked by landslips. The department officials concerned have been working hard to open the roads at the earliest, he said.