Four dead, 20 rescued as rain washes away several houses in Uttarakhand

india

Updated: Aug 19, 2019 08:09 IST

Four people were killed while 20 others were rescued across Uttarakhand as it continued to receive heavy rain since Saturday, officials said.

Uttarkashi was the worst-hit district in the state, which received about 200 mm of rainfall since Saturday.

Reports said several houses were damaged in three villages—Arakot, Mori, and Tikochi—of the district.

“We got information about the damages in the morning around 8.30 from the district headquarters. So far, as per our initial information, at least seven to eight houses have been damaged in Arakot village. Three members of a family were buried under the debris of one of the houses,” said Praveen Alok, a state disaster response force (SDRF) official.

He said six members of a family were reportedly trapped under muck in Mori village while one person was reported to be missing. “In Tikochi, several houses have been damaged but there is no loss of life,” he said.

Alok said due to landslides several roads remained blocked and therefore the SDRF teams have not been able to carry out rescue operations.

Uttarkashi district officials said due to incessant rain, the water level of Tons river has risen and several houses on its banks have been swept away.

Uttarkashi district magistrate, Ashish Chauhan, said they with the district administration’s help in Dehradun contacted the army in Chakrata and asked it to send a first response team to the affected areas.

“Rescue teams of National Disaster Response Force and Indo-Tibetan Police Force have also been sent there for search and rescue operations,” he said.

Two persons were separately killed and as many injured in three different accidents in Dehradun, Pauri Garhwal and Nainital districts on Sunday, said the state police.

In Dehradun’s Maldevta area, a 42-year-old woman was swept away by gushing water while four others were rescued after they tried to cross overflowing Song river on Sunday afternoon.

“The incident happened after they decided to cross the overflowing river for adventure,” said Dehradun’s senior superintendent of police Arun Mohan Joshi. He added four people were rescued while one Neetu Lohia was swept away. Her body was later found a few metres away. In the other accident in Dhumakot area of Pauri Garhwal district, one person was killed while two others were injured after the bus they were travelling on fell into a gorge on Sunday morning.

In Nainital, a bus was washed away in a flooded area near Corbett Tiger Reserve’s Dharmgiri Gate. Ravi Kumar Saini, in-charge Ramnagar police station, said all 25 passengers on the bus managed to swim to safety.