At least 12 people were killed and more than 17 reported missing or trapped under tonnes of debris in Uttarakhand’s Pithoragarh and Chamoli districts following heavy rain in the wee hours of Friday.
The cloudburst that took place at 1 am was followed by flash floods and landslides that damaged the road network, including the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway that was blocked by a landslide at Kshetrapal, Parthadeep, Maithana and Bajpur in Chamoli district.
The landslide in Chamoli left 70 Badrinath-bound yatris stranded for hours before they were rescued.
The Kanalichina-Askot-Dharchula National Highway has been damaged at various points stalling traffic apart from which a number of rural motor roads are also blocked. The Border Roads Organisation had started work on clearing the debris with mechanical excavators here.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Chief Minister Harish Rawat and Governor KK Paul expressed grief at the loss of lives in the two districts and asked officials to be on the alert.
The cloudbursts also revealed loopholes in the State Government’s preparedness to deal with such situations with Harish Rawat telling a private news channel that due to poor connectivity it took him four hours to establish telephonic contact with Pithoragarh District Magistrate.
Meanwhile, officials of the State’s Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC) along with police and revenue department personnel are conducting rescue and relief works in the affected areas.
District Magistrates and the Superintendent of Police along with other district-level officials are reported to be overseeing rescue and relief works.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were rushed from Delhi to the affected areas in both Pithoragarh and Chamoli districts to help in the rescue operations along with the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), officials said.
Pithoragarh Disaster Management office said the cloudburst brought over 100 mm rains in a space of just two hours in an area spread over 50 sq km leaving a trail of destruction.
According to villagers, it is for the first time in 100 years that the region has seen such a cloudburst.
The Indian Meteorological Department has forecast heavy to very heavy rains in Uttarakhand in the coming two to three days, with extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Champavat, Almora, Pauri, Haridwar, Dehradun and Tehri districts and heavy rain at isolated places in rest of the districts of Uttarakhand during the next 48 hours.
The public in Uttarakhand has been requested to remain alert and all the District Magistrates have been directed to make announcements and facilitate relocation of those living in vulnerable areas or in close proximity to rivers.
While eight people were killed in Pithoragarh district, four lives were claimed by heavy rains in Chamoli, where two people were swept away by a mass of mud and slush rushing into the Siron village, SDM Chamoli SK Barnwal said.
One person was killed in Ghat block and another was killed in similar circumstances in Sithel village, he said adding eight people trapped in the debris have been rescued in the district so far.
“We have recovered five bodies from Singhali area while three bodies have been recovered from Thal village. The search for other bodies is on by rescue parties consisting of Army and paramilitary personnel,” Pithoragarh District Magistrate HC Semwal said.
Three persons with serious injuries were taken by helicopter to Pithoragarh for necessary treatment while three injured persons were brought by ITBP personnel to Mirthi Hospital.
The entire area is being scoured for people who went missing after the cloudburst.
According to the Disaster Management Officer RS Rana, the cloudburst occurred in the villages of Singhali, Patthakot, Ogla and Thal villages which are lying under heavy debris with people trapped under it. The crisis could be big as many people are still trapped under tonnes of debris.
Makeshift tents and foodgrains are being provided for the affected families, an official release here said.