Seven dead, 7 injured as rain wreaks havoc in Uttarakhand

Seven people, including three of a family, were killed and as many injured in Uttarakhand as heavy rains triggered many incidents of house collapse, flooding of areas and rise in water levels in several rivers of the state, officials said on Thursday (August 1).

Three persons were killed and at least six injured after a house collapsed in Haridwar district on Wednesday (July 31) evening. A family is reported to have gone missing following a cloudburst in a village in Ghansali area of Tehri district, officials said.

Four people also went missing in rain-related incidents in Dehradun, Haldwani and Chamoli. Two persons were swept away by the waters of an overflowing seasonal canal in Raipur area of Dehradun, the local disaster control room said. Body of one has been recovered while a search is on to find the other, it said.

Houses collapse

A house collapsed due to heavy rain in Bharpur village near Roorkee in Haridwar district, killing three people and injuring more than half a dozen others after they got buried under the debris, police said.

The injured have been admitted to a hospital.

The sound of the house collapse was so loud that the villagers got frightened, police said.

A house collapsed due to heavy rain in Talla village of Pithoragarh district as well. Three more houses in the village were also damaged. However, there was no loss of human life in the two incidents.

Death and destruction

A man was swept away by the swirling waters of a river in Haldwani in Nainital district while in Devchauli in Chamoli district, a woman and a child are missing since Wednesday evening after a house collapsed, they said and added that a State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) team has left for the spot.

Three members of a family — Bhanu Prasad (50), his wife Neelam Devi (45) and son Vipin (28) — were killed in a landslide which damaged their roadside restaurant following a cloudburst in Jakhanyali village of Tehri district's Ghansali area, the officials said.

Vipin was rescued but died while being taken to the AIIMS in Rishikesh, Tehri District Disaster Management Officer Brijesh Bhatt said.

Fresh registrations for Chardham yatra put on hold

Teams of the NDRF, the SDRF, and the administration have been deployed in affected areas of the state.

Disaster Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said 200 passengers stranded on the Kedarnath route due to falling stones and the washing away of a 20-25 metre footpath near the Bhimbali Chowki have been moved to safer places.

Pilgrims stranded on the trek route to Kedarnath are being brought to the emergency helipad, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in a post on Facebook.

An advisory has also been issued for pilgrims bound for Kedarnath asking them to postpone their journey till the road is restored.

Fresh registrations for the Chardham yatra have been put on hold for the time being.

Haridwar inundated

Torrential rain for a few hours in Haridwar inundated the entire city, washing away a truck of Kanwariyas in Sukhi river in Kharkhari area.

There were no Kanwariyas in the truck, but it had rations and essential goods for their return journey, police said.

The Kanwariyas alleged when they parked the truck there, no one alerted them about the area suddenly getting flooded when it rains heavily.

Truck floats, cars swept away

Kharkhari police post in-charge Sanjeet Kandhari said that the truck was seen floating in water. He said the vehicle will be retrieved when the rain stops.

Nearly a dozen four-wheelers parked along the riverbed of the Sukhi in Kharkhari were washed away following torrential rain on Wednesday evening.

Roads got submerged in water in many areas of the city and the rainwater also entered the Kankhal police station. Many colonies and markets of Bhupatwala, Haridwar, Naya Haridwar, Kankhal, and Jwalapur got flooded.

Flooded streets

Heavy waterlogging also occurred on the roads at Ranipur turning, the posh commercial area of Haridwar, while water gushed into many big showrooms. Latowali in Kankhal was flooded up to four feet.

Schools up to Class 12 and Anganwadi centres have been closed for Thursday in various districts, including Dehradun, where too it rained heavily for several hours.

With the roads getting marooned, the administration changed the route of the Kanwariyas at many places.

CM’s message

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has asked officials to remain alert. “Due to heavy rains last night across the state, life was affected at many places. Rescue teams conducted operations throughout the night and took people to safer places. I am in constant touch with the local administration and have instructed the NDRF and SDRF teams to remain on alert mode in the affected areas,” Dhami said in a post on X.

“Relief and rescue operations are being conducted in Rambada, Bhimbali, Jakhaniyali and other more affected areas. The safety of every resident of the state, the devotees and tourists coming from other states is our priority, for which our entire team is working with promptness. All of you are requested to travel only after getting an update on the weather situation,” he said.

The chief minister also said he will conduct an aerial and ground inspection of the disaster affected areas of Rudraprayag and Tehri Garhwal districts.

(With agency inputs)