Incessant rains in both the mountains and the plains since Friday night caused the Ganga and its tributaries to swell on Sunday. Since Saturday night to Sunday evening, at least seven persons were reportedly killed in different parts of the State due to flooding, landslide and related mishaps.
With some parts experiencing almost consistent rainfall for a 48-hour period, the network of motor roads and rural roads suffered considerable damage apart from the Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway number 58 being blocked for traffic at lambagadh and Kanchanganga.
According to information provided by the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), according to the 4:30 pm report on Sunday, the level of water in the Ganga river in Haridwar district was 80 centimetres below the danger level. The State Administration is keeping a watch on the water level with flood posts also being activated.
Six teams of water police with five motor boats/ rafts are said to be available in the vulnerable area with patrolling also being conducted on the river banks in the downstream areas. In the Uttarkashi district, at about 8:15 pm on Saturday, a tree fell on a home in Nandgaon under Badkot Tehsil.
Two persons were killed and one injured apart from one cattle also dying in the mishap. Further, information has been received about some residential buildings sustaining damage following heavy rain in Kisalagaon, Kharsali and Kandari villages in the district.
The level of water in the Bhagirathi river was 1,121 metres according to the Tiloth bridge gauge report at 2 pmon Sunday with the danger level being 1,123 metres. The Rishikesh-Gangotri national highway number 108 and Rishikesh-Yamunotri national highway number 94 are open for traffic up to Janakichatti.
In Tehri district, four persons died on the spot when their vehicle got buried under landslide debris near Kusumkheda in Narendranagar block at about 12 PM on Sunday. The four bodies of the victims had been retrieved but yet to be identified till the time of this report being filed.
A portion of the Chamba bypass road near the Woodstock school also collapsed following heavy rain. Though no human fatalities had been reported from the collapse of a stretch of the Chamba bypass road, the road becoming impassable for vehicles has created hardships and inconvenience for residents of villages further with long and costlier detours through alternate routes being the only option for locals and travelers in the affected areas.
As on Sunday evening, a total of 62 rural roads were blocked to traffic in Tehri district with light rain being experienced. Earlier, a bus swept off balance while crossing a swollen nullah resulted in the death of one person in Haldwani. In Rudraprayag district, the Rishikesh-Kedarnath national highway number 109 is blocked to traffic between Sonprayag and Gaurikund and near Munkuthia. The bridle path from Gaurikund to Kedarnath is open. A total of 25 rural roads were reported to be blocked to traffic in the Rudraprayag district where light rain was being experienced on Sunday.
The Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway number 58 was blocked to traffic due to debris at lambagadh and near Kanchanganga with efforts reportedly underway to open the road.
In the Dehradun district, the Kalsi-Chakrata motor road and Kwasi-Damta motor road were blocked to traffic in addition to which a total of 14 rural roads were reported blocked in the district as on Sunday evening.
According to the data made available by the State disaster management centre, a total of 237 Public Works Department and other roads were blocked to traffic on July 16 but following the heavy rain experienced on Saturday night 256 more roads got blocked for traffic of which 51 roads had been reopened with work underway for clearing the remaining 442 blocked roads.
Majority of the roads reported blocked till Sunday evening–318 are located in rural areas. The status report on blocked roads is being uploaded by the Public Works Department on its official website pwd.uk.gov.in. The PWD avers to have reopened 1,004 of the total 1,155 disaster affected roads in this season so far. The department has presented an estimate amounting to Rs 10,572 lakh in order to repair the damaged roads.
Similarly, in the current season till date the supply of electricity was disrupted to a total of 1,185 villages and peripheral settlements in different parts of the State. Out of these, power supply has been restored to 1,184 affected villages with work underway to restore supply to lathi village in Kapkot block.
The electricity department is stated to have spent Rs 167.28 lakh on restoring the supply of electricity to the affected villages so far. According to official data, a total of 559 drinking water supply schemes were damaged due to heavy rain.
Of these, the Jal Sansthan has managed to resume supply through 555 schemes on a temporary basis. The department has presented an estimate amounting to Rs 1,289.68 lakh for restoring the disaster affected water supply schemes. Additionally, an estimate amounting to Rs 206.68 lakh has been presented by the department to facilitate temporary repair of the affected schemes.