By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 27 Jul: Heavy rains and landslides have caused havoc in Uttarakhand. Due to heavy rains, life has been disrupted in many areas of Uttarakhand particularly in the hills. In Dehradun district too, it was a holiday today for the second day in a row in view of the Orange alert that had been issued by Meteorological Department.
Incidents of landslides have increased. Due to the rapid flow of water, small culverts and roads have been washed away in many areas. Water has entered houses and offices, due to which people are facing a lot of problems. Also, the power supply of many areas is also affected, which has increased the difficulties. At the same time, a building got submerged in the river in Budhakedar leading to the death of a mother and daughter duo there.
Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said that there was information of rocks falling from above the Sonprayag shuttle parking on the Kedarnath Yatra route. There has been no loss of life or property however. All the passengers had already been alerted. Keeping in view the safety of the passengers, the Yatra has been halted for some time. People are terrified due to heavy landslide on Kedarnath Yatra route. Bhagirathi water level has reached near Bhagirathi rock in Gangotri. Due to increase in water level of Bhagirathi river at Gangotri Dham, gate of Shivanand Kutir Ashram was washed away in the strong current of the river. Along with this, water entered the ashram after breaking the security wall. The lives of sadhus, saints and labourers were in danger here. Police and SDRF personnel entered the ashram from the hill behind the ashram and rescued ten sadhus, saints and labourers and took them to the safe place Gangotri temple premises.
Due to heavy rain, holiday has been declared in all the schools of Bhilangana block. It may be recalled that one house was totally submerged in water and debris, killing mother and daughter on the spot in Toli village in Bhilangana Block.
The 33 KV power substation in Thatyud of Jaunpur block of Tehri district has been filled with heavy debris. Due to which the transformers have been buried. Power supply has been completely disrupted. Road debris and water have entered the power substation premises.
It rained through large part of the day today in many parts of the state and particularly in Uttarkashi district headquarters and in Chinyalisaur. However, traffic movement continued on Gangotri National as well as Yamunotri National Highway today. Information about the road being blocked due to debris and stones near Lambgaon Motor Road Airkhal has been received while power supply is stalled in Ghansali-Balganga valley. Electricity poles have been washed away at many places.
Heavy rains occurred in Karnaprayag last night, due to which Pindar River continues to be in spate. Panti town of Narayanbagh has been filled with debris. Transformers and bundles of wires of the electricity department are buried in the debris in Panti and the highway and Panti-Vinayak-Hanskoti road are closed. Due to heavy rainfall here, debris came along with rain water. Karnaprayag-Gwaldam-Almora National Highway is closed in Panti of Narayanbagh. BRO is busy in clearing the road. The highway in Harmani is closed due to slides, apart from this the road is blocked due to debris at many places.
