Flash floods triggered by a massive cloudburst in Uttarakhand on Tuesday afternoon washed away or buried large parts of a village called Dharali near the Bhagirathi river, along National Highway 34 that goes to the Hindu shrine of Gangotri Dham in Uttarakhand.
At least four persons were reported dead and several were missing.
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“A lot of property has been damaged and it is not possible to say anything about the casualties right now. Our army team, which is in Harsil, has reached the spot,” said Vinay Shankar Pandey, commissioner of the Garhwal division. Disaster response squads and health department teams reached the area, he told news agency ANI in state capital Dehradun.
Where is Dharali?
Dharali is one of the last stops near the culmination of the highway to Gangotri, from where flows the Bhagirathi river, considered the source stream of the holy river Ganga.
Dharali is located in Naugaon block of Uttarkashi district, and is an eight-hour drive from Dehradun, which is around 250 kilometres away. Gangotri, less than 20 km from the village, is part of the Char Dham Yatra, along with Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, all four in the Himalayas.
{{/usCountry}}Dharali is located in Naugaon block of Uttarkashi district, and is an eight-hour drive from Dehradun, which is around 250 kilometres away. Gangotri, less than 20 km from the village, is part of the Char Dham Yatra, along with Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, all four in the Himalayas.
{{/usCountry}}The entire region, comprising the town of Harsil and the villages around it, has a number of hotels, many of which were washed away in the flash flood triggered by the cloudburst.
“That was our market. Now it's just disappeared,” a local man could be heard in a viral video shot just after the sudden gush of water in a local stream brought along debris and tree logs that buried the main part of Dharali.
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Hotel ads pitch Dharali as a riverfront hamlet “with stunning views of the Bhagirathi river and snow-capped peaks”. Its local population is estimated to be below 1,000.