Dehradun, Jun 24: Fresh rains, landslides and cloudburst on Monday impeded rescue operation in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand with over 10,000 people still stranded even as the state government barred other states from undertaking unilateral rescue efforts.
Bad weather grounded most of the big military choppers from bringing people to safety. Small helicopters managed to evacuate only 138 from Badrinath, Pandukeshwar and Lambagar in Chamoli district. Reports from Chamoli and Pauri districts said it was raining in the higher reaches hampering chopper operations. The state capital Dehradun was also drenched with rain.
Fresh landslips in Rudraprayag and on Badrinath highway also choked access roads.
Besides rains and landslides, a cloudburst was reported in Mulan village in Paithani kasba in Pauri following incessant rains. Many houses collapsed but casualties, if any, were not immediately known.
With a number of states sending its teams to flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand, the state government decided not to allow any other state to undertake unilateral rescue efforts.
In Delhi, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the death toll in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand may cross the 1,000 mark after the debris are cleared.The official death toll as of yesterday was put at 680 while Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said the death toll is likely to be around 1,000
Uttarakhand Disaster Management Minister Yashpal Arya had yesterday said that at “At least 5,000 people must have been killed in the deluge that inflicted heavy damage on vast tracts of land especially in Kedarnath valley“.
“About 5000 people are yet to be evacuated from Badrinath and not even a single chopper has so far been able to take off from Sahasradhara helipad here to rescue stranded pilgrims at the shrine and affected pockets adjacent to it,” Retd Wing Commander Capt R S Brar, who has been entrusted with the task of overseeing air rescue operations, said.
Kedarnath Valley, the temple town which was the epicentre of the floods and landslides, was cleared of all stranded pilgrims on Sunday in stepped up rescue operations.
Meanwhile, 14 American tourists struck at Banjar camp in Himachal Pradesh’s rain—ravaged Kinnaur district were evacuated and brought to Rampur as rescue operations to airlift 200 tourists and locals resumed this morning.
Uttar Pradesh also received fresh rains on Monday leading to a rise in the water level of Ganga, Ghaghra and Sharda rivers.
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