DEHRADUN: Monsoon rains have wreaked havoc once again in Uttarakhand since Tuesday night, causing the death of five people. This included two children who were killed in Gaurikund after being buried under the debris of a massive landslide.
Rudraprayag’s district disaster management officer Nandan Singh Rajwar told this newspaper, “Three children were buried under the debris due to a heavy landslide in Gaurikund (Gauri village) of Rudraprayag district. Two of them died while one child is undergoing treatment”.
Due to the heavy rains, many houses in Chuna Maheda village of Kotdwar are reported to be buried under debris. One person has reportedly died there. Three people were also killed in accidents due to heavy rains in Pithoragarh, Nainital and Rudrapur. In the Mangoli area near Nainital, a man died after he was swept away in a drain due to strong currents during rains.
Thampi PV (57), son of Vasudevan, a resident of Chettikulgada village in Kattikulgada district of Kerala, fell into a ditch when a boulder fell on the BRO JCB he was driving while opening the road on Dhapa-Milam motorway in Munsiyari. He was rushed to the community health centre in Munsiyari in a BRO ambulance where doctors declared him brought dead.
Speaking to this newspaper, State Disaster Response Force commandant Manikant Mishra said, “Houses were flooded due to excessive waterlogging in Aravindnagar area of Sitarganj. The SDRF team reached the spot and with the help of rafts, around 200 people were rescued from submerged houses and shifted to a safer place”.
“Uttarakhand has broken a 10-year record of rainfall in the last 24 hours, with the department issuing an orange alert for five districts including Dehradun and a yellow alert for the rest of the districts,” said IMD sources.