DEHRADUN: Dharali, a key stopover on the Gangotri Dham pilgrimage route, was completely devastated on Tuesday afternoon by a sudden surge of debris-laden water from the Khirganga River. The flash flood, carrying massive amounts of debris from the mountains, reportedly wiped out the entire village – market, houses, hotels, and all – in mere 34 seconds.
Besides Dharali, cloudbursts were also reported in Harsil and Sukki. In Harsil, nine out of eleven Army personnel who went missing after a cloudburst remain untraced. While authorities acknowledge the potential for a rising death toll, uncertainty persists more than 24 hours after the calamity.
SDRF, NDRF, ITBP, and Army teams are engaged in extensive rescue operations, having evacuated over 140 people so far. The ancient Kalp Kedar Mahadev Temple, a significant site connected to the Panch Kedar tradition and a major centre of local faith, was also buried under the debris.
Amidst the ongoing relief and rescue efforts, environmentalists, social workers, and historians have expressed deep concern over the disaster, appealing to the government to learn crucial lessons from it.
Historian and author Jai Singh Rawat told this newspaper that the Khirganga, a tributary of the Bhagirathi, has a long history of destructive floods. “Emerging from the Srikant peak, the Khirganga has been notorious for its devastating floods,” he stated, recalling a 19th-century deluge that buried 240 temples, once part of the Kalp Kedar temple arena.
Pawan Nautiyal, a resident of Bhatwari in Uttarkashi, highlighted a fortunate coincidence: “Most villagers from Dharali, a village of about 230 families, were attending the ‘Har-Doodh Mela’ in Mukhwa. Otherwise, a much larger number of villagers could have been caught in the disaster.”
Meanwhile, rescue teams on Wednesday intensified operations to locate villagers and soldiers missing under the debris of multi-storey structures in Dharali village. Two bodies have been recovered so far.
The search for survivors continued for a second day in Dharali and an Army camp in Harshil. Teams from the Army, ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police), and SDRF (State Disaster Response Force) are relentlessly engaged in search and rescue.
The Army launched a swift and coordinated Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief operation. The region is currently completely cut off due to multiple road breaches and a bridge collapse.
Kinnaur Kailash Yatra halted
The Kinnaur Kailash Yatra in Himachal Pradesh has been suspended, with one pilgrim dead, and 1,196 devotees evacuated is last 24 hours after cloudburst triggered flashfloods in the region, leaving several stranded. The district administration suspended the Yatra after heavy rainfall led to significant damage along the route, with trekking paths turning mucky and slippery or hit by landslides, posing serious risks.
Badrinath, Hemkund out of bound
Pilgrimages to the revered Badrinath Dham and Hemkund Sahib were suspended amid relentless downpour which has already claimed two lives. The picturesque Valley of Flowers and Nanda Devi National Park have been closed to tourists as a precautionary measure. Teams from the Army, NDRF, SDRF, and other organisations are engaged in round-the-clock operations to shift affected individuals.