5 min readDehradunOct 20, 2021 09:21 PM IST
First published on: Oct 20, 2021 at 03:34 PM IST
After incessant rain that continued to batter Uttarakhand since Sunday, leading to floods, landslides, and massive destruction of property especially in the hills of Kumaon, the situation in the area, especially Nainital is getting better as most of the roads have either been repaired or under the process of being repaired.
As per the government data, a total of 52 deaths caused by heavy rainfall and landslide have been reported since Sunday. Seventeen persons are injured and five are still missing. Nainital district was the most affected with 28 deaths reported on Tuesday.
In Nainital, the rain and mudslides damaged homes and roads across town. The Mall Road that skirts the Naini lake, and the area around the famous Naina Devi temple were reported to be flooded. The time around Dussehra is peak tourist season in Nainital and the surrounding area that is dotted with mountain lakes, and is especially popular with visitors from Gujarat and West Bengal.
Talking to The Indian Express, Nainital Hotel Association President Dinesh Lal informed that the sky is clear on Wednesday and two of the three roads that connect Nainital to the rest of the state – Kaladhungi-Nainital road and the Nainital via Bhimtal, Bhawali and Kathgodam – are now functional again.
Submerged cars are seen at a flooded hotel resort as extreme rainfall caused the Kosi River to overflow at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, India, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Mustafa Quraishi)
“The Nainital-Haldwani road, which is the most used, is yet to be opened. Using the two open roads people have started leaving Nainital. Last week, the entire Nainital was jam packed by tourists. Roughly around 14,000 to 15,000 tourists were arriving everyday before the rains started. The occupancy is just around 20 percent now. The new arrival is zero,” he said, adding that there are 120 medium to big size hotel in Nainital affiliated to his association and over 250 more hotels and guest houses. All the hotels were full before the rains started.
Lal informed that there was no shortage of food, but power and water supply was affected and has been resumed on Wednesday. Some of the hotels were flooded and the water is now leaving. In the meantime, multiple teams of the national and state disaster response forces were carrying out rescue operations. Two teams of the NDRF were stationed in Uttarkashi; one each in Dehradun, Chamoli, Almora, Pithoragarh, Haridwar and Gadarpur.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami took an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas of the state. Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Dhami over phone and took cognizance of the damage caused by the rainfall and discussed the relief and rescue work. (PTI)
Earlier, the India Meteorological Department’s (IMD’s) Dehradun centre said two weather stations in Kumaon division had received the heaviest rainfall for any 24-hour period on Tuesday since records began to be kept 124 years ago.
According to data provided by Dehradun Meteorological Centre Director Bikram Singh, the weather station in Mukteshwar was established in 1897 and the 340.8 mm rain recorded Tuesday morning broke the previous record of 254.5 mm on September 18 in 1914. Similarly, the Pantnagar weather station was established in 1962 and the 403.2 mm rain recorded Tuesday broke the previous record of 228 mm on July 10 in 1990.
After the rains, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami over phone on Tuesday to take stock of the damage, and relief and rescue work. The Prime Minister has promised all required help and assistance from the Centre, the state government said in a release. On Twitter, Modi said, “I am anguished by the loss of lives due to heavy rainfall in parts of Uttarakhand. May the injured recover soon. Rescue operations are underway to help those affected. I pray for everyone’s safety and well-being.”
Dhami met with officials at the state disaster control room. The Chief Minister, accompanied by his ministerial colleague Dhan Singh Rawat and state DGP Ashok Kumar, also conducted an aerial survey of the areas affected by heavy rainfall. Directions have been issued to provide financial help to the affected people.
(With ENS inputs)
Uttarakhand rains: National Disaster Response Force personnel rescue people from Chhara village in Nainital district, Uttarakhand, October 20, 2021. (NDRF via Reuters) 
Submerged cars are seen at a flooded hotel resort as extreme rainfall caused the Kosi River to overflow at the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand, India, Tuesday, Oct. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Mustafa Quraishi)
Uttarakhand Chief Minister 
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