Uttarkashi cloudburst: Dharali was not the only village to be hit.
Disaster swept through Dharali village in Uttarakhand on Tuesday after a massive cloudburst triggered flash floods that barrelled through homes, trees and vehicles, trapping dozens of people and leaving at least five dead.
Here are the top 10 developments:
- Five people have been killed and 150 were rescued from the flood-ravaged mountain village of Dharali on Wednesday, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for the entire state and warned of heavy rainfall in the district.
- Landslides blocked arterial roads leading up to Dharali, where dozens of people were trapped and many homes and cars swept away by the raging waters on Tuesday. Eleven Army personnel from the nearby camp in Harsil were among those missing. There was no official confirmation on the number of local residents who went missing after the flashflood.
- Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a disaster management meeting at the State Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) and surveyed the flooded area in Dharali and Harsil from a helicopter. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke to Mr Dhami for an update on the situation and assured him of the Centre's assistance. A group of BJP MPs from Uttarakhand also met PM Modi, who assured them that he was personally monitoring the situation, sources said.
- The cloudburst - somewhere in the catchment area of the Kheer Ganga river - occurred at around 1.50am on Tuesday and the sudden gush of floodwaters, slush and rubble buried at least half the village.
- Videos from the area showed a torrent of muddy water and silt tearing through the slopes towards settlements along the banks of the river. People could be heard screaming in fear. Contiguous buildings, including three and four-storey houses, fell like a pack of cards as the surging waters washed over them.
- Dharali was not the only village to be hit. The raging waters flowed down two different sides of the same hill, one towards Dharali and the other towards the village of Sukki, according to state Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman. A red alert is still in place in Uttarkashi.
- The army, police, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force are engaged in the rescue operations. NDRF teams from Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh were also airlifted to the hill state. Helpline numbers have been issued by the state government and district administration. They are: 01374222126, 01374222722 and 9456556431.
- Incidents of cloudbursts and heavy rains were also reported in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh. A flash flood washed away a large part of the trekking route in the Tangling area along the Kinnaur Kailash Yatra route, leaving hundreds of pilgrims stranded.
- The National Highway 35 near Nigulsari in Kinnaur has been shut in view of heavy rainfall and landslides in the area. The Chandigarh-Shimla National Highway has also been closed due to landslides at Chakki Mor in Shimla. The highway has been closed due to debris falling at Chakki Mor near Parwanoo in Solan district.
- The IMD issued a weather warning at 6:30 am today, forecasting light to moderate rainfall at most places in Himachal Pradesh, with a few spells of intense to very intense rainfall likely in the districts of Bilaspur, Solan, Shimla, Sirmaur, and Mandi over the next three to four hours.
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