2 dead, 8 feared trapped after debris falls on houses in Chamoli as rain wreaks more havoc in Uttarakhand

District Magistrate Sandeep Tiwari told The Indian Express that two people were rescued from under the debris at Dhurma and Lagafani. Search operations are ongoing to find the eight people still missing. Central and state-level rescue personnel, as well as police, have been working throughout the day, officials said.

“We have been facing connectivity issues after three feeders in the area got cut off. Work is underway to restore the connectivity. The villages are situated close to the mountain where, after the rainfall, the debris fell over it with high momentum,” he said, adding that all roads to the incident spot have been repaired to facilitate the movement of the teams. More than 60 villagers have been moved to relief centres, Tiwari said.

The State Disaster Response Force said that though its team from Gauchar was dispatched to the site, blocked roads and heavy rainfall forced them to trek eight kilometres to reach the spot. It said two injured women and a child have been sent for treatment.

Several other injured and ill people have been airlifted to Dehradun. For about 25 families in Dhurma village and 12 families in Sera village, the tehsil administration has also made arrangements for relief camps.

This comes after at least 23 people died when a cloudburst triggered landslides and caused rivers to swell in Dehradun and other districts of Uttarakhand on Tuesday. The Disaster Management Authority said 21 bodies were recovered from Dehradun and one each from Pithoragarh and Nainital, while at least 17 are missing, after a cloudburst occurred on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday at Sahastradhara.