DEHRADUN: The arrival of devotees in the Char Dham Yatra, which has been going on intermittently for the last two weeks, had resumed, but the news of an avalanche on Sunday morning created panic among the pilgrims again.
According to information received from the District Disaster Management Authority Rudraprayag, "An avalanche occurred on Sunday morning from Sumeru Mountain near Kedarnath Dham." In May this year, there was an avalanche in Kedarnath Dham. There were three incidents in September and October last year, this is the fifth avalanche in the last one year," the sources revealed.
At the same time, the water level of Saraswati river has increased.
District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar told The New Indian Express, "An avalanche incident has been reported once again in Kedarnath Dham. An avalanche came from Mount Sumeru at 7:30 am. During this time people started making videos here. However, no loss of life or property has been reported in the incident."
According to the Office of Disaster Management Authority, "The avalanche occurred in a part of the glacier located in the upper region of Charbari Tal, about four km from Kedarnath."
Around this time, there was a cloud of snow in the area for five to seven minutes. The way the ice balloon was rapidly moving downwards, it was estimated that a large amount of new snow had fallen from a considerable height.
"Due to the deteriorating situation this time due to heavy monsoon, the Meteorological Department has again issued an alert of heavy rains for the next few days and has predicted that the monsoon will depart late this time," said State Meteorological Department Director Bikram Singh.
"Due to global warming, avalanche events are now being witnessed unexpectedly in the Himalayan region", Director Singh added.
"During the disaster, when the number of pilgrims per day for the Char Dham Yatra had come down to around 800, it is again crossing the 2,200 mark per day," a tourism official associated with the yatra said.