E-Paper
16 dead after rain fury lashes hills
Flash floods were reported from three states-- Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and J&K -- with experts linking the devastating downpours to climate change.
Gushing torrents of water triggered by torrential showers in the hills of northern India flattened villages, washed away roads and cut off remote villages on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people with 30 others either injured or missing.
Authorities reported two separate cloudburst incidents – when one station receives 10cm or more of rainfall in an hour -- in J&K’s Kishtwar district on Wednesday morning and Himachal Pradesh’s Lahaul-Spiti on Tuesday night.
Flash floods were reported from three states-- Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and J&K -- with experts linking the devastating downpours to climate change. Heavy rainfall across north India threw life off gear, inundating cities, marooning crop fields and even damaging a power plant in Kargil.
“Central government is closely monitoring the situation in the wake of the cloudbursts in Kishtwar and Kargil. All possible assistance is being made available in the affected areas. I pray for everyone’s safety and well-being,” tweeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Union home minister Amit Shah spoke to senior officials and said teams from the National Disaster Response Force were on the spot. “Our priority is saving lives,” he said.
JAMMU AND KASHMIR
Around 4am on Wednesday, a torrent of water gushed downstream and caught around 100 residents of Honzar village in Kishtwar district unaware. Many of them were still sleeping when the water marooned their village and swept their homes into the stream.
Additional director general of police Mukesh Singh said seven people died and 17 were rescued. “Six were critically injured and shifted to Kishtwar district hospital,” he said. At least 26 people were still missing.
Singh said the deluge damaged 19 houses and 21 cowsheds. “Army is assisting local police is the rescue operations,” he said.
A separate cloudburst later in the day triggered flash floods near the Amarnath shrine. No loss of life was reported.
HIMACHAL PRADESH
Nine people died and seven reported missing in two separate flash floods in Kullu and Lahaul-Spiti districts, officials of the state disaster management authority said.
A cloudburst flooded Tozing Nullah and washed away two tents of labourers and a JCB machine in Lahaul and Spiti district on Tuesday evening, said deputy commissioner Neeraj Kumar. Eight people were killed.
State disaster management director Sudesh Mokhta said a landslide near Kirting village of Lahaul sub-division blocked state highway number 26, leaving 50 vehicles stranded. Another landslide occurred on the highway at Hawai Mod near Kukumseri village. Landslides also block the Leh-Manali highway.
In Chamba, a JCB helper was killed in flash floods. Five others were missing. In Kullu, a 25-year-old woman and her four-year-old son were swept away by gushing river waters.
In two simultaneous cloudbursts on Tuesday evening, a mini power plant was badly damaged in Kargil area of the union territory of Ladakh.
UTTARAKHAND
Heavy rainfall led to several landslides and traffic snags across the state. In Almora district, a home guard jawan was swept away by an overflowing water stream on Wednesday morning. Low-lying parts of state capital Dehradun were inundated.
Tourists were also stopped from going to the popular tourist spot of Kempty Falls near Mussoorie.
The Dehradun centre of the India Meteorological Department said the state on Wednesday witnessed “moderate rainfall with heavy to very heavy rainfall” and the monsoon is expected to remain active over the state for next few days. “The rainfall in state is above normal in July with excess rain in June,” said Bikram Singh, director of IMD Dehradun centre said.
Heavy showers were recorded in the national capital region, Odisha, Gangetic West Bengal, Jharkhand and bihar. The IMD predicted heavy rainfall across northern India and several areas of Madhya Maharashtra, Kokan and Goa for the next two days.
July had witnessed several incidents of cloudburst and mini-cloudburst, where 50mm to 60mm rainfall takes places in a short duration. Both lead to sudden spurt of water in catchment areas of monsoon streams leading to massive landslides and movement of boulders in fast flowing water. Last Sunday, heavy rainfall and landslides killed nine tourists in Himachal Pradesh’s Kinnaur district.
The data collected by governments in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand show a gradual increase in cloudburst incidents, which officials in the two states attribute to devastation of hilly forests for development and horticulture, apart from the impact of climate change on rainfall patterns.
