Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami undertook an aerial survey of the affected areas on Tuesday, along with state Disaster Management Minister Dhan Singh Rawat and state DGP Ashok Kumar, to assess the damage caused by the rains. He instructed all district magistrates to assess the damages caused to farmers and send him a report at the earliest.
Director General of Uttarakhand Police Ashok Kumar, who accompanied CM Dhami on a visit to the rain-hit areas of the Kumaon region, said roads, bridges and railway tracks have been damaged in Kathgodam and Lalkuan in Nainital and Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar. It will take at least four-five days to repair the damaged tracks, Kumar told PTI.
The severe weather events in Uttarakhand have been triggered by two simultaneous active low-pressure systems, one each over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal regions.
State officials have advised Chardham pilgrims against proceeding to the Himalayan temples until the weather improves, reported news agency PTI. Dhami Tuesday reiterated his appeal to pilgrims to stay where they are, and not to resume their journeys until the situation was better.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Dhami and Union Minister Ajay Bhatt on Tuesday to take stock of the situation. The Prime Minister promised all required help and assistance from the Centre.
The Dalai Lama on Wednesday wrote to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami expressing his deep sadness about the loss of lives and the hardship caused to many people following heavy rainfall in the hill state.
“I offer my condolences to those who have lost loved ones, and pray for them. I also pray for the safety and well-being of people still reportedly trapped under debris and in flooded areas," the Dalai Lama wrote in the letter.
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"I very much appreciate that the State Government is engaged in rescue work and is doing its utmost to provide relief to people affected by this calamity," the Nobel laureate said.
As a mark of solidarity with the people of Uttarakhand, I have asked the Dalai Lama Trust (DLT) to make a donation towards relief and rescue efforts, the Buddhist spiritual leader added. (PTI)
As many as 96 people from Karnataka are stranded in Uttarakhand following heavy floods and landslides, of which 92 are confirmed safe, an official said.
According to the Karnataka State Disaster Management Authority commissioner Manoj Rajan, arrangements have been made to bring those who are confirmed safe. He said that among the four people about whom the KSDMA has no information as of now three are marooned in Badrinath and are incommunicado.
"We have no information about them because they are not reachable due to connectivity issue. We hope they too are safe," Rajan told PTI.
The fourth missing person from Karnataka is a soldier with the Border Security Force (BSF) and the BSF control room has been informed about it, the official said. (PTI)
Pilgrimage to the Himalayan temples of Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri resumed on Wednesday with the weather clearing up across Uttarakhand.
The pilgrimage to Badrinath, however, could not resume as the Pipalkoti-Joshinath-Badrinath stretch of the national highway remained blocked at several places due to a landslides, Chardham Devasthanam Board Media incharge Harish Gaud said.
As the weather improved, pilgrims waiting at different stopovers on way to Kedarnath began reaching Sonprayag to visit the temple. (PTI)
Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday announced acfinancial assistance of Rs 5 crore for Uttarakhand which has been badly hit by rains.
Khattar spoke to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami over the phone and assured him of all possible help from the state.
He said that the entire Haryana stands with the people of Uttarakhand in this difficult hour. Apart from financial assistance, relief material including tents, ration kits, clothes and medicines will also be sent by the Haryana government.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur also had a telephonic conversation with his counterpart Pushkar Singh Dhami and assured him of all possible help from the state. Thakur expressed heartfelt condolences to the family members of the deceased and prayed to the Almighty to grant peace to the departed souls. (PTI)
Eight trekkers and three cooks accompanying them on a trek to Chitkul in the neighbouring Himachal Pradesh have gone missing, officials said on Wednesday.
The team of eleven people was on a trek to Chitkul via Harsil in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand, District Disaster Management Officer Devendra Patwal said.
Comprising seven tourists from Kolkata and one from Delhi, the team had left Harsil for Chitkul on October 11 and was supposed to reach there on October 19. However, when it did not reach Chitkul on Tuesday, worried trek organisers informed the Uttarkashi District Disaster Management Office, Patwal said.
An SDRF team is preparing to trace the missing trekkers by a helicopter and rescue them, he said. (PTI)
The Karnataka government has established a help desk for assisting stranded people from the state at various places in rain and flood-ravaged Uttarakhand.
People from the state like passengers, pilgrims, tourists and visitors can use the help desk set up by the state government said, Minister for Revenue R Ashoka, “people can give the information which will be shared to Uttarakhand authorities for immediate action and quick response,” he added.
The help desk numbers of the Karnataka State Emergency Operation Centre are: 080 - 1070 (Toll Free) and 080 - 2234 0676.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday expressed sympathy for the Uttarakhand flood victims and urged people to follow safety norms as the situation in the state was still serious. He also asked Congress workers to extend all possible help in the relief work in the flood-hit state.
'My condolences to the Uttarakhand flood victims. The situation is still serious. Do follow the safety norms. My appeal to my Congress colleagues is to extend all possible help in the relief work,' Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.
Tourist town Nainital was returning back to normalcy on Wednesday after being battered by rains which cut off the place from the rest of Uttarakhand, inundated its roads and kept visitors confined to their hotel rooms.
The Kumaon region, under which Nainital falls, has been the worst hit by the rains which began Sunday night, killing at least 46 people in the state as houses collapsed and bridges were washed away by swollen rivers. A furious Gaula river has damaged the tracks at Kathgodam railway station in Nainital, which experienced a record 445 mm rainfall on Tuesday. The district accounts for 29 of the deaths so far.
In Nainital, tourists woke up to a bright morning without a trace of rain on Wednesday and were out on the streets for shopping and sightseeing. Taxis had begun running through the town. (PTI)
The NDRF, which has deployed at least 15 teams to Uttarakhand to assist state authorities in rescue and relief efforts, has been tweeting images and videos which capture the devastation in the state. Here are pictures from Chara, Nainital:
And, here's a video of tourists trekking through rubble to safety:
Dhami says the state government has prioritised rescuing tourists who are stranded after the heavy rains, and the "situation is slowly becoming normal at Char Dham Yatra", reported PTI. The CM had on Tuesday appealed to tourists to stay put until the rain subsided.
Chief Minister Dhami says there is "massive damage" across Uttarakhand due to the record-breaking rainfall this week. "There has been massive damage. It will take time to return to normalcy. Roads were washed away, there were landslides, rivers changed their routes, villages were affected, bridges collapsed," he explained, reported ANI.
"We want to clear blocked roads first. Water had entered houses, local admin has been asked to make arrangements to ensure people don't lack food and water. Rs 10 crore each has been sanctioned for all DMs as relief fund," Dhami added.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah is likely to go to Dehradun this evening to take stock of the situation, according to a report in PTI.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami takes stock of the situation in Uttarakhand via an aerial survey. He is visiting Almora and Champawat districts in Kumaon region today, among the worst-hit parts. He has already visited Rudraprayag, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts.
The topography of most hilly regions makes them prone to landslides. Deforestation, quarrying, road construction and other land-use changes that pay short shrift to ecology increase vulnerabilities of such areas during episodes of heavy rainfall. Devastation in coasts and hills underlines ecological fragility, calls for revisiting development paradigms. Read The Indian Express editorial
In its forecast, the India Meteorological Department has said rainfall will reduce significantly from Wednesday, with the state likely to stay dry for the rest of the week.
Uttarakhand, as a whole, received about 122 mm rainfall during the 24-hour period between Monday and Tuesday. The Mukteshwar meteorological station recorded 340 mm rainfall during this period — the highest-ever 24-hour rainfall since the station started recording data in 1897. Pantnagar also recorded its higher-ever rainfall of 403 mm. Read Anjali Marar's report
The death toll due to the heavy rains in Uttarakhand rose to 46 on Wednesday, revised figures published by the state government showed.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami met people affected by heavy rainfall in Kumaon and Garhwal regions of the state on Tuesday and announced a compensation of Rs 4 lakh each to the next of kin of those who had lost their lives in the disaster.
Dhami, who undertook an aerial survey of the affected areas besides interacting with the disaster-affected people in Rudraprayag, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar district, said people need to have patience in this hour of crisis. All necessary arrangements are being made by the state government, he said, adding that there was no need to panic. (PTI)
Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami chairs a review meeting in Haldwani over the situation in the state.
Around 25 to 30 trekkers stranded in Gomukh Trek in Uttarakhand were rescued by the State Disaster Response Force personnel late on Monday night. The team of trekkers had got stranded along the Gomukh trek on Monday when the road was blocked by boulders falling from the hills one kilometre ahead of Devgad following incessant rains, SDRF jawan Kuldip Singh said.
An SDRF team left for the spot after the Gangotri police post came to know of the incident late on Monday night. The SDRF personnel reached the stranded trekkers after traversing a difficult terrain amid heavy rains and brought them to Gangotri, Singh said. (PTI)
With 23 rain-related deaths on Tuesday, the state's toll rose to 28, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), which also said the Kumaon region was the worst-hit. Five deaths were reported on Monday. Of the 23 fresh deaths, 18 were reported from Nainital, three from Almora and one each from Champawat and Udham Singh Nagar districts, the SEOC said.
Director General of Uttarakhand Police Ashok Kumar, who accompanied Chief Minister Dhami on a visit to the rain-hit areas of the Kumaon region, said roads, bridges and railway tracks have been damaged in Kathgodam and Lalkuan in Nainital and Rudrapur in Udham Singh Nagar. It will take at least four-five days to repair the damaged tracks, Kumar told PTI. Three Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopters have arrived in the state and are assisting in relief and rescue operations. Two of them have been deployed in Nainital district, which has suffered extensive damage due to cloudbursts and landslides, Dhami said.
Nainital was cut off from the rest of the state with three roads leading to the popular tourist spot blocked due to a series of landslides. Dozens of tourists were stranded in some parts of the state. According to a rough estimate, around 100 pilgrims from different parts of Gujarat who had gone to Uttarakhand for the Chardham Yatra were stranded following heavy rains and landslides, Gujarat Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi said. (PTI)
The Karnataka government has set up a help desk for information on people from the state who are stranded in Uttarakhand. State revenue minister R Ashoka said people can contact the help desk for information. Any relevant enquires will be passed on to the authorities in Uttarakhand.
The Karnataka State Emergency Operation Centre numbers are 080-1070 (toll free) and 080-2234 0676. The lines will be open 24x7, a press release stated. (ENS)
The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has rescued over 300 people from flood-affected areas of Uttarakhand, the federal force said on Tuesday. The NDRF has deployed 15 teams in the state. The Kumaon region of the hill state has been severely hit by heavy rains, leading to razing of houses and leaving many trapped in the debris.
'Rescue operation is in progress and so far, teams have evacuated more than 300 stranded persons from Udham Singh Nagar district and other flood-affected areas,' an NDRF spokesperson said.
He said while six teams are deployed in Udham Singh Nagar, two teams each are stationed in Uttarkashi, Chamoli and one team each in Dehradun, Pithoragarh and Haridwar. 'One team and a sub- team have been deployed in Nainital while one sub-team is placed at Almora,' the spokesperson said.
The team in Uttarkashi has been stationed to 'respond to any contingency and ensure safety of 'yatris' (travellers) of the Char Dham yatra which has been halted temporarily,' he added. (PTI)
NDRF team carried out rescue operations at several waterlogged areas in Rudrapur.
Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami visits a locality in rain-affected Rudrapur to take stock of the situation.
IAF has inducted Dhruv helicopters at Pantnagar for rescue efforts.
The Mall Road in Nainital and Naina Devi temple located along the banks of Naini lake have been flooded, while a hostel building has been damaged due to landslides. The district administration is trying to help tourists stranded in the town, the police has been deployed to warn incoming and outgoing traffic, asking them to stay put until the wet spell is over, a report from Nainital said.
Landslides have blocked the exits in the town. Around 100 people got stuck at Lemon Tree resort on Ramnagar-Ranikhet route, with water from swollen Kosi river entering the resort. Electricity, telecom and internet connectivity in Nainital district was also hit badly. (PTI)
The chief minister undertook an aerial survey of the affected areas along with state Disaster Management Minister Dhan Singh Rawat and state DGP Ashok Kumar to assess the damage caused by the rains. He instructed all district magistrates (DMs) to assess the damages caused to farmers and send him a report at the earliest. However, he asked people not to panic, saying all necessary steps are being taken to evacuate them to safety.
He also reiterated his appeal to Chardham yatris to stay where they are and not to resume their journeys before the weather improved. He also asked the DMs of Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts to take special care of pilgrims stranded on chardham yatra route.
The damage caused by the rains is being assessed, Dhami noted, admitting that farmers had been hit hard by the incessant showers. He also said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had spoken to him on the phone to take stock of the situation and assured him of all necessary help. (PTI)
With incessant rain wreaking havoc in various parts of Uttarakhand, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday asked his party workers in the state to help people in every possible way.
“Distressing news about damage caused by calamity is coming from Uttarkhand. I pray to Baba Kedarnath for everybody's safety. Appeal to all workers of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to help people in every possible way in this difficult time,” Kejriwal tweeted in Hindi. (PTI)
Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami conducts an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Singh Dhami over phone and took cognizance of the damage caused by the rainfall and discussed the relief and rescue work. According to a statement issued by the state government, PM Modi assured that the Centre will provide all required help and assistance. Read more
Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel spoke to his Uttarakhand counterpart Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday regarding Gujarati pilgrims stuck there and urged him to extend all possible help to the visitors.
As per a rough estimate, around 100 pilgrims from different parts of Gujarat, who went to Uttarakhand for the Chardham Yatra, were stranded following heavy rains and landslides there, Gujarat Revenue Minister Rajendra Trivedi said.
Gujarat CM Patel spoke to Dhami over phone and urged him to provide necessary help to the stranded pilgrims from Gujarat. The CM also asked officials to start contacting the stranded people, an official release said. Following Patel's instructions, the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) issued a helpline number - 07923251900 - to collect and share information about the stranded pilgrims, it said. PTI
Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel Monday rescued passengers from a car which got stuck atop rocks near the Badrinath National Highway. Footage of the video showed an excavation vehicle pulling the car to safety amid gushing waters.