With heavy rainfall hitting normal life in many parts of the Kumaon division for a couple of days, a woman was killed and a person was seriously injured due to cloudburst in Kasarikanauli and Chailbagar (Kasyali) and adjacent villages of Pithoragarh's Berinag tehsil on late Saturday night.
Apart from loss of human life, cattle, including 12 goats, two cows, were also reported to be killed in this natural calamity. Besides, many houses, schools, bridges have also been reported to be damaged in this incident.
However, efforts are on to estimate the loss of properties in this cloudburst incident, said the officials of the district disaster management Pithoragarh. The woman who lost her life in this cloudburst incident has been identified as Bhagirathi Devi, 58 years, wife of Anand Ballabh Pathak, a resident of village Saneti, Berinag tehsil, while the person who was seriously injured in this incident has been identified as Anand Ballabh Pathak, 65, a resident of village Saneti, Berinag tehsil, officials said. The seriously injured person was taken to the community health centre, Thal, for his treatment, added the officials concerned. The people of Kasarikanauli, Chailbagar (Kasyali), Saneti, Thal, Naachani and many other villages located along the Ramganga valley faced a harrowing time when a sudden downpour in the form of cloudburst struck the region around 10 pm on Saturday night. Debris and heavy rainwater entered many houses causing huge damage to life and property. The loss of life and property could have been more had the people not been alert keeping in view last years' devastating monsoon. "As soon as we received information about the cloudburst from Chailbagar village area, houses were vacated with the help of locals," said RS Rana, District Disaster Management Officer, Pithoragrh. "A joint rescue operation was launched involving revenue and regular police and other officials from the disaster management department to provide immediate relief to the affected people," added Rana.
Mobility remained restricted even in urban areas like Haldwani due to waterlogging in many places as it rained heavily on Sunday afternoon.