Rescue operations race against time in Nandanagar, Chamoli district, following a devastating cloudburst that claimed seven lives and left several people trapped under debris.
Landslides and flooding triggered by heavy rain have devastated villages in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, leaving many feared trapped and injured. Rescue operations are underway.
'The lakes up there were already at the brink due to accumulated rainwater, and then snowmelt occurred.' 'When one lake breached, it triggered a cascading effect -- other lakes breached subsequently.'
A devastating flashflood in the Kheer Ganga river on August 5 demolished nearly half of Dharali -- the key stopover en route to Gangotri with many hotels and homestays, and neighbouring Harsil, where an Army camp bore the brunt of the flood fury, barely giving time to the victims to run to safety.
A landslide on the Kedarnath route in Uttarakhand killed two pilgrims and injured six, while heavy rain led to the temporary suspension of the Char Dham and Hemkund Sahib pilgrimages.
'The government only wakes up after devastation.' 'The government does not understand the gravity of the situation nor they do not want to understand the gravity of the situation.'
'What we are witnessing is not a freak incidence or a freak occurrence, but a new climate reality where warming oceans, monsoon variability and local geography are combining to produce extreme events.'
National Disaster Response Force teams were rushed from Delhi to the affected areas in both Pithoragarh and Chamoli districts to help in the rescue operations along with along with State Disaster Response Force, Sashastra Seema Bal and Indo-Tibetan Border Police and local agencies, officials said.
Three more bodies were recovered from the debris in the cloudburst-hit villages of Pithoragarh, raising the death toll in rain-related incidents in the state to 18 while searches were on for as many missing people by the army, para-military and police personnel.
Twelve people, including three of a family, were killed and six injured in heavy overnight rains that triggered flooding and house collapse as several rivers swelled in Uttarakhand, officials said on Thursday.
Rescue operations continued through Tuesday and Wednesday in Joshimath, Rudraprayag, Dehradun, Rishikesh, Pauri Garhwal in Uttarakhand and in Shimla, Chamoli, Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, for those trapped by landslides.
So far, 15 bodies have been recovered from the debris, while 12 persons are still missing.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat, who is in Delhi, expressed grief at the loss of lives and announced a compensation of Rs two lakh each to the families of the victims.
The MeT department forecast very heavy rains over the next 48 hours in the mountainous areas of the state especially the disaster-prone Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts where torrential rains may trigger flash floods, cloudbursts and landslides asking people as well as authorities to be alert.
The massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga river triggered by a glacial burst in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on Sunday came as a grim reminder of the Kedarnath deluge of 2013 which led to widespread devastation in the ecologically fragile Himalayan region.
The NRSC satellite imagery revealed that the lake covered approximately 162.7 hectares. Its area increased to 167.4 hectares on September 28 but drastically reduced to 60.3 hectares.
Fresh incidents of cloudburst, landslides and house collapses were reported in Uttarakhand after moderate to heavy rains lashed the state.
Fresh incidents of landslides, cloudbursts and house collapses were triggered by moderate to heavy rains in most places in Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
Incessant rains in parts of Uttarakhand continued to hamper relief efforts on Monday prompting authorities to commission the Indian Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft to drop relief material to Kedarnath and other affected places.
'We have been appealing to various governments for so many years that there should be no dams in the Himalayas, but no one listens.' 'Nature responded in its own way.'
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed anguish at the loss of lives in Uttarakhand and noted that rescue operations are underway to help the affected.
'Above 2,000 metres the gradient of the Himalayas is very steep and if you build any infrastructure (roads, dams, hydro power projects) in these regions, it will not be able to sustain these events (the onslaught of debris that comes down with great speeds).'
The national capital received heavy precipitation resulting in waterlogging on several roads and traffic jams at various intersections.
To avert another Uttarakhand-type catastrophe, we must change course. We should stop pandering to the Indian elite's insatiable appetite for electricity, which is driving reckless dam construction, says Praful Bidwai
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