North India rain toll rises as water level turns dangerous
Heavy rains in India have caused the deaths of at least 42 people, with rivers overflowing and landslides cutting off towns and villages.
At least 42 people have died because of heavy rains in various parts of India over three days, with raging rivers washing away national highways, bridges, buildings and vehicles, and landslides snapping the only links to many towns and villages.
Read here: More rains in store for U.P; CM reviews flood situation & relief works
People in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Chandigarh were among the hardest hit with Himachal alone accounting for 20 deaths. Weather officials issued a red alert for Uttarakhand for Tuesday, where spells of heavy rain were forecast for several days, sparking fears of similar chaos as what the neighbouring Himalayan state has faced since the weekend.
Himachal Pradesh’s chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu expressed “deep sorrow” at the deaths and said the government was “making all-out efforts” to tackle the situation, with more rain predicted.
He added that such “widespread heavy rains” had not occurred in 50 years and the state has suffered a loss of about ₹3,000 crore in this monsoon season so far.
Authorities were waiting for the deluge to relent to dispatch helicopters to rescue about 300 people — including tourists — stranded in Lahaul-Spiti and Kullu in Himachal Pradesh.
The rains were so heavy across north India that they caused severe waterlogging in planned cities of Chandigarh, Panchkula and Mohali on Monday, when water from the Ghaggar and Sutlej rivers inundated urban areas, breaking bridges, breaching highways, and flooding houses and hospitals.
The government stopped traffic on India’s busiest highway — the Delhi-Amritsar highway — at Shambu toll plaza near the Ambala-Patiala border because of a breach in the embankment of Ghaggar river, which flooded the highway.
Read here: High intensity rains unlikely in the coming days in Delhi: IMD
Ambala district collector Dr Shaleen (who goes by only one name), said there was no alternate route available. “Army has been called to plug the breach and pump out the way to restore traffic on the highway,” the DC said.
A government official said Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke with the chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Sukhu and Pushkar Singh Dhami respectively, about the situation in their states. “He assured all help and support from the government of India,” he said.
The heavy spells of rain, which have stretched from Punjab and Rajasthan on the western and northwestern side to the Himalayas in the north, are the consequence of a rare and powerful confluence of monsoon winds with a western disturbance. The monsoon winds have been bringing moisture in from the south and, late last week, interacted with the system sweeping in from the west, over Pakistan, to create a potent rain-bearing system.
On Monday, the India Meteorological Department issued its highest alert or red warning for heavy rain in Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmour, Una, Bilaspur, Hamirpur and Solan districts. “Solan, which received 135mm of rain on Monday, broke a 50-year-old record of 105mm of rain in a day in 1971, while Una received the highest rainfall after 1993,” Shimla-based IMD regional office director Surender Paul said.
“We can expect heavy to very heavy rainfall over Himachal Pradesh for one more day and over Uttarakhand for the next 2-3 days because the monsoon trough is over the Indo-Gangetic Plains area. There is also a cyclonic circulation over northwest Rajasthan and adjoining parts of South Haryana. So, rainfall will continue over north India,” said Mahesh Palawat, vice president, climate and meteorology at Skymet Weather.
Shimla-Kalka train services were disrupted for the third day in a row and traffic came to halt on the Manali-Leh highway as part of it was washed away. The Shimla-Chandigarh highway was blocked at several places.
In the hill town of Manali, a three-storeyed hotel building collapsed into the gushing Beas river.
According to the latest data by Public Works Department, a total of 171 roads, including 16 state highways, were closed across Uttarakhand as on Monday. In worst-affected districts such as Almora, schools have been closed till July 12.
The Dehradun centre of IMD has issued an orange warning till July 12. The heavy rainfall has also affected the ongoing Char Dham Yatra, with roads getting blocked due to landslides and rockfall at different locations.
Read here: Rain-heavy system over north likely to subside by today, to shift to east: IMD
In Jammu and Kashmir, the Amarnath Yatra remanded suspended for the third consecutive day even as National Highway Authority of India ramped up efforts to restore traffic on Jammu-Srinagar highway (NH44), which has blocked at Ramban due to heavy rain. “The yatra remains suspended from Jammu due to bad condition of the highway,” a senior officer said.
Intense rain also brought life to a standstill in several parts of eastern and central Rajasthan. A seven-year-old boy was swept away in the gushing waters of an overflowing drain in the state capital, where several areas reeled from waterlogging.
