At least three people were killed and two others went missing in separate instances of cloudburst and heavy rains on Thursday, prompting the meteorological department to issue a red warning for eight of Uttarakhand’s 13 districts. IMD’s Dehradun center has released a storm alert for moderate to very heavy rains.
After a cloudburst in Kwansi village of Chakrata block, 90 kilometers from Dehradun, on Thursday morning, a 32-year-old man died and two 13-year-old girls went missing. Following the crash, the state emergency response force (SDRF) began searching for survivors with the assistance of locals.
“A 32-year-old man identified as Muna died after being washed away by strong water flow on Thursday morning about 9 a.m., while two girls identified as Kajal and Sakshi went missing,” said Praveen Alok, media in-charge SDRF.
He went on to say that villagers were assisting in a search and rescue mission. “The man’s body has been identified, but the two girls are yet to be found,” he said.
Two men, aged 28 and 40, died after the wall of their mud house collapsed due to heavy rains in the early hours of Thursday in Bazpur, US Nagar district.
Shankar and Mukesh, the dead, were sleeping when the wall collapsed, crushing them to death.
Many highways and roads were blocked by landslides and rubble brought down by heavy rains.
Water from a nearby rivulet overwhelmed the Badrinath highway in Chamoli district, causing it to be closed. After leaving the truck on the track, the driver and his helper of a truck stranded in the water fled.
Similarly, landslides at different locations on the Gangotri highway in the Uttarkashi district have disrupted traffic.
IMD’s Dehradun center had previously released a red alert for moderate to very heavy rains in Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Bageshwar, Almora, Nainital, Champawat, US Nagar, and Pithoragarh districts. It also urged residents living along rivers and rivulets to exercise caution.
