Uttarakhand: Heavy rain wreaks havoc; one person dies in Tehri

Char Dham Yatra was affected due to overnight rains and debris accumulation on the Badrinath Kedarnath Highway on Wednesday forced the district administration to divert the route for pilgrims

Heavy rains continued to lash Uttarakhand and its adjacent regions on Wednesday putting normal life out of gear for people due to landslides, boulder falls and road blockages resulting in restricted traffic movement.

In Tehri district, a newly elected gram Pradhan (village head) died when a boulder fell on his car. (HT picture)

Char Dham Yatra was affected due to overnight rains and debris accumulation on the Badrinath Kedarnath Highway on Wednesday forced the district administration to divert the route for pilgrims who had taken shelter at various places on the route.

The Badrinath National Highway was blocked at a disaster-prone stretch of road on NH 58 at Sirobgarh due to debris falling continuously for the past two to three days while the road was also closed for traffic at Nail on Kedarnath Highway.

Around 1300 hundred pilgrims were permitted to leave for Kedarnath at around 8am on Wednesday and the Rudraprayag district administration authorities were sending pilgrims on the trek to Kedarnath only when the rain stopped for brief periods the whole day.

Nandan Singh Rajwar, district disaster management officer Rudraprayag said,” The work to open the work was going on since early morning and the mud debris has been removed from a stretch of road at Sirobagarh and major roads on the Kedarnath Highway”.

In Tehri district, a newly elected gram Pradhan (village head) died when a boulder fell on his car one kilometre away from Gharkhet in Thatyud block while he was on his way to block headquarters to attend the oath-taking ceremony on Wednesday, said Thatyud police.

Three others who were travelling along in the vehicle received grievous injuries and were rushed to the nearest government hospital where they are undergoing treatment.

The deceased has been identified as Pratap Singh aged 50 years resident of Tator village, said the police.

Two to three vehicles were stuck in mud sludge on Dobra-Chanti-Chamba Road due to heavy rains on Wednesday morning.

Brijesh Bhatt District disaster management Tehri district said, “The vehicles were parked overnight at the side of the road and JCB machines were deployed to remove the mud sludge, but the road was open for traffic”.

In the Pauri district, the national highway from Srinagar to Rudraprayag was closed at Chamdhar near Dhari Devi Temple due to landslides triggered by overnight rains.

The pilgrim vehicles were being diverted from Pauri Chungi to Khirsu so that they can reach Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines said district disaster management officials Pauri.

At Uttarkashi, the National Highway number NH 94 was closed for traffic in the morning due to landslides at several places and the work to remove the debris was on the whole day.

Heavy rains wreaked havoc in Ganga and Yamuna Valley of Uttarkashi district on Tuesday night resulting in traffic bloackage on Gangotri Highway for several hours due to mud debris accumulated on the road.

Under Barkot municipality, the residents of ward no 7 had to go through harrowing experiences due to waterlogging resulting in water entering their homes.

Anupama Rawat, president of municipal board Barkot along with local SDM Shalini Negi and former municipality president Atol Singh Rawat rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation.

The connectivity of dozens of villages in Naugaon block has been cut off. At the same time, vehicular and pedestrian movement on the road remained closed due to a large amount of debris in the morning in Mori Bazar.

Two houses in Khaabla village near Barkot on Yamnutori Highway were damaged due to the mud debris entering the house of the villagers.

Devendra Patwal district disaster management authority officer Uttarkashi said, “The highway to Gangotri was open the whole day as it received very little rain while the Yamunotri highway was blocked at some places and the work was going on to clear the debris so that the road is opened for traffic”.

In the Mori region of the Uttarkashi district area, 20 to 30 metres of road between Mori-Sankri was damaged due to the overflowing rainwater at Fafrala Khuddd, due to which connectivity to 22 villages was cut off.

On the other hand, traffic movement on the Naugaon Syori road near Barkot came standstill due to the overflowing of a pit.

The route has been cleared of the debris till Fafrala had and work is on to open it soon said Devendra Patwal, the district disaster management official.

The Mori-Sankri Mori-Tuni, Tuni-Arakot, Sankri-Jakhol, Jakhol-Fitadi, Sankri Taluka, and Arakot-Chinwa roads remained closed for traffic since morning while the work was on to open the road by clearing mud debris.

The rainfall from July 1 to 6 July for the state was recorded at 193.9-millimeter, with a departure of minus 21%.

The state received 15.9mm of rain in a 24-hour period starting at 8:30am on Tuesday. Some of the districts which received significant rainfall included Uttarkashi (44.5mm with a departure of 207% from the average), Rudraprayag (10.4mm with a departure of -42% from the average), Bageshwar (32.3mm with a departure of 343% from the average) and Tehri (28mm with a departure of 169% from the average).

According to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) Dehradun Centre, maximum 35.0°C was recorded at Pantnagar, while minimum 17.0°C. was recorded at New Tehri.

For the next two days, the IMD has predicted light to moderate rainfall/thunderstorms likely to occur at many places in hills and at a few places in plains with intense showers at isolated places in hills of Uttarakhand. While at the district level heavy rainfall is likely to occur in the same period at isolated places in Dehradun, Pauri, Champawat, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts of Uttarakhand.