66 People Died in Rain Fury in Himachal Pradesh And Uttarakhand

Incessant rains and landslides killed 66 people in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand as operations continued to rescue the injured and pull out bodies from debris due to house collapses in several places.

Most of the deaths occurred in Himachal Pradesh, where 60 people have died since the heavy rains began on August 13, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said.

The weather office has predicted isolated but heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh in the next two days and over Uttarakhand in the next four days.

3 Bodies Recovered In Himachal, Toll Ay 60

On Tuesday, rescue workers recovered three bodies from the rubble due to landslides. One body was pulled out of the debris of a collapsed Shiva temple in Shimla while two people died in a fresh landslide in the city.

At least eight houses, including six makeshift ones, collapsed and a slaughterhouse was buried under the debris following a landslide in Krishnanagar locality in Shimla.

A total of 19 bodies have been recovered since Monday, 12 at the Shiva temple site in Summer Hill, five at Fagli, and two in Krishnanagar, he said, adding more than 10 people are still feared trapped at the Shiva temple, which collapsed on Monday.

All the schools and colleges in the state would remain closed on Wednesday due to inclement weather, an order issued by the education department said.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and the Army along with police and SDRF resumed rescue operations at Summer Hill around 6 am, Deputy Commissioner of Shimla Aditya Negi told the media.

The rescue operations were suspended on Monday night following heavy rainfall.

The weather office issued an orange alert on Tuesday (August 15), while a yellow alert was sounded for the next four days till August 19.

Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh University suspended teaching activities till August 19 in view of the torrential rains. The university library will also remain closed till August 20.

However, teaching and non-teaching staff would attend the university as usual, a notification said.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu chaired a meeting on Tuesday to review the prevailing situation in the state and emphasized that the Himachal government is fully committed to expediting restoration efforts on a priority basis.

He also directed officials to swiftly restore electricity and water supply schemes that have been affected by the torrential rain over the past few days, according to an official statement.

In a tweet on Wednesday morning, the Chief Minister said that over 800 people were evacuated from their villages in the low-lying areas of Kangra as the water level in Pong Dam rose.

“More than 800 people were evacuated from the low-lying areas of Kangra near the Pong Dam, as their villages became inaccessible due to the elevated water level in the dam reservoir. Evacuation operation is still on as more people are being evacuated,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.

More than 800 people were evacuated from the low-lying areas of Kangra near the Pong Dam, as their villages became inaccessible due to the elevated water level in the dam reservoir.

Evacuation operation is still on as more people are being evacuated. pic.twitter.com/gtESMDhUnu

— Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu (@SukhuSukhvinder) August 16, 2023

Uttarakhand Toll Rises To 6

In neighboring Uttarakhand, the toll in rain-related incidents rose to six, as two more bodies were found while seven were still missing. The state has been receiving heavy rains since Monday.

A body of a woman, who went missing after water from a swollen river Pawar entered villages in Uttarkashi district’s Arakot area, was found on Tuesday, the disaster control room in Dehradun said. Another body of a 14-year-old girl, Tejaswini, was recovered from a rain-fed stream in the Lakshman Jhula area of Rishikesh.

The girl, Tejaswini, went missing on Monday after a car in which she was traveling with her mother and brother was swept away by the swirling waters of the stream. They were residents of the Rani Mandir area of Rishikesh, it said. Operations were on to trace her mother and brother.

A yellow alert has been issued for several places in Uttarakhand for the next four days till August 19. While the rain intensity may decrease over time, people have been warned not to venture out in areas that are affected by floods and landslides.

The river Ganga at Bhimgoda Barrage in Haridwar started receding and was flowing at 292.65 meters, slightly below the warning level of 293 meters.

Three people were rescued and a few others are feared trapped under debris after a building collapsed on Tuesday at Helang near subsidence-hit Joshimath in Chamoli district, officials said.

Additional Information Officer of the district Ravindra Negi said those rescued were rushed to a hospital while State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel were trying to safely bring out the others trapped in the building.

Earlier this year, several houses in Joshimath were damaged due to land subsidence and since the onset of the monsoon, the problem has aggravated.

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