Dehradun/Shimla, Sep 16 (PTI) Fresh heavy showers overnight ravaged the Himalayan states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, already bruised by a string of deadly natural calamities over the past couple of months.
In Uttarakhand, the cloudbursts and heavy rains left 15 people dead, 16 missing, and more than 900 stranded in different locations, while in Himachal Pradesh, three members of a family were killed as rains triggered massive landslides and flash floods.
Search for the missing continued amid inclement weather while NDRF, SDRF and fire brigade personnel brought most of the stranded people to safety, Uttarakhand’s State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said.
Torrential waters running through the hilly slopes swept away cars, damaged houses, and commercial establishments in the two states. In Uttarakhand, roads were breached, and several bridges were washed away in Dehradun district.
The downpour swelled most of the snowfed rivers and streams in the two states.
The Ganga and the Yamuna rivers were flowing close to the warning level in Uttarakhand, while the water level of the Tamsa river reached tantalisingly close to the danger mark.
The Tamsa swelled rapidly in the morning, inundating the famous Tapkeshwar temple on its banks and submerging the gigantic Hanuman statue near its entrance up to the shoulders.
The temple’s priest, Bipin Joshi, said he has not seen the river waters rise so high in the past 25 to 30 years. Luckily, there were few devotees within the temple premises in the early morning hours when the inundation occurred, he said, adding that the priests staying at the temple are safe.
Videos shared on social media showed SDRF personnel helping stranded people wade through the violent currents of flooded rivers in which vehicles, including cars and trucks, were left stuck.
About 400-500 students trapped due to waterlogging at the Devbhoomi Institute campus in Paundha area of Dehradun were rescued by an SDRF team, said Banshidhar Tiwari, Director General, Information.
Dehradun reported 13 rain-related fatalities, while Nainital and Pithoragarh reported one each. Sixteen people are reported missing in different parts of the state capital, the Uttarakhand Disaster Management Authority said.
Officials said the 13 fatalities in Dehradun included eight residents of Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad district who were crossing the Tons River in Vikasnagar tehsil on a tractor-trolley that was swept away by the strong current of the water.
Two more people from the group are reported missing, they said.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has announced a financial compensation of Rs 2 lakh for the next of kin of the deceased.
Three people were also injured in rain-related incidents in Uttarakhand, officials said, adding that they are under treatment.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the rain-affected areas of Dehradun district to review the situation on the ground. Local MLAs and senior officials accompanied him.
The chief minister’s office, in a social media post in Hindi, said Dhami has briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the situation in Uttarakhand following heavy showers.
They assured the state of all possible help and asserted that the Union government stands firmly with the people of Uttarakhand in this hour of crisis, according to the CMO.
For neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, the situation was equally bad.
State capital Shimla received 142 mm of rain in 12 hours since Monday evening, followed by Nagrota Suriyan 135.2, Bhattiyat 80 mm, Sundernagar 60.8 mm, Brahmani 54.4 mm, Guler 54.2 mm, Mandi 52.6 mm, and Kangra 50.5 mm.
The state has witnessed 46 cloudbursts, 97 flash floods and 140 landslides so far this year.
With 655 roads, including stretches of three national highways closed, 1,250 power transformers and 160 water supply schemes already disrupted, the latest bout of showers exacerbated the situation.
A flash flood triggered by the downpour submerged the main bus stand in the Dharampur area of Mandi district, washing away several vehicles. Two women and a child died when their house collapsed on them in Bragta village of the district following a landslide.
Four people were reported missing in incidents of floods and landslides in the state on Tuesday.
Shopkeepers and residents faced severe losses as floodwaters gushed into shops, damaging goods and infrastructure. Preliminary estimates suggest losses amounting to several crores. Officials said the rains led to floods in the Son and Bharand streams in Dharampur.
In Shimla, several vehicles were buried following a landslide near Himland in the heart of the city, and the main circular road was blocked.
Thunderstorms were witnessed in Shimla, Jubbarhatti, Kangra, Bhuntar, Jot, Murari Devi and Sundernagar, while winds gusting up to 37 kmph lashed Bilaspur, Bajaura and Kufri.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu mourned the death of three people and said all possible assistance would be provided to the next of kin of the deceased.
He also took stock of the situation in the affected areas and directed them to take necessary and immediate actions to mitigate the impact.
Former Union Minister and Hamirpur MP Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said he will soon visit areas affected by rain-induced disasters in Himachal Pradesh.
He expressed concern over losses incurred by the state during the natural calamities.
On September 9, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conducted an aerial survey to review the relief and rehabilitation measures and announced an immediate relief of Rs 1,500 crore for the calamity-hit state.
A total of 417 people have died in rain-related incidents and road accidents since the onset of the monsoon over the state on June 20 to date, while 45 are still missing. A total of 236 people died in rain-related incidents, while 181 were killed in road accidents.
According to meteorologists, the heavy overnight rains that wreaked havoc in parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand were triggered by a “violent interaction” between dry westerly winds and moisture-laden easterlies.
C S Tomar, head of the India Meteorological Department’s regional centre in Dehradun, said the incessant rains in Uttarakhand and Himachal were caused by a confluence of dry westerlies and moist easterlies and that the interaction is expected to continue for the next 24 hours.
This monsoon, cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides have caused losses worth Rs 4,504 crore in Himachal Pradesh.
Rainfall has been unusually high across north India. Uttarakhand has received 1,343.2 mm of rain so far, 22 per cent above normal, while Himachal has recorded 1,010.9 mm, an excess of 46 per cent.
In May, the IMD had forecast that India is likely to receive 106 per cent of the long-period average rainfall of 87 cm during the June-September monsoon season.
Rainfall between 96 and 104 per cent of this 50-year average is considered ‘normal’. PTI TEAM RHL
