CHANDIGARY/DEHRADUN: Landslides and flashfloods over the past few days that knocked off infrastructure in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand in a big way, killed 13 more people on Tuesday. The Southwest monsoon and western disturbances coalesced to create a double whammy in North India.
While the toll since the onset of monsoon on June 24 in Himachal is around 80 with 10 others reported missing, 13 more were reported dead in Uttarakhand. Boulders rolling out of the Uttarakhand hills crushed a few vehicles on their way to Uttarkashi from Gangotri.
The Met Office predicted that the adverse weather will continue in Uttarakhand till at least Thursday. Flashfloods damaged vital bridges and quite a few multi-storey buildings on the banks of rivers collapsed or got washed away. In Himachal, as many as 40 shops and 30 residential houses were washed away at Sainj in Kullu district.
A local said one village known as Bekar at Sainj was completely washed away in the flood. It had 15 houses besides 200 bighas of agricultural land. In the evening, a helicopter sortie rescued seven persons from the Spiti Valley. “Seven of them have been rescued in the first helicopter sortie. The rest will be evacuated tomorrow,” informed officiating DGP of Himachal Pradesh Satwant Atwal.
As many as 300 people, including 250 tourists, are stranded there. Most of them are from Maharashtra, MP and Gujarat. Later in the day, traffic on the Chandigarh- Shimla National Highway was partially restored through a single lane.