People look at a collapsed road following heavy rains in the northern state of Uttarakhand yesterday; RIGHT: Soldiers rescue stranded villagers after floods caused by heavy rains at Odhri village in Yamunanagar district of Haryana.
New Delhi: Heavy rains hit life in several north Indian states and caused havoc in Uttarakhand, where the death toll reached 29, while thousands were stranded after landslides, as the annual monsoon covered the country nearly two weeks ahead of schedule, officials said yesterday. With more rains expected, the situation is likely to worsen in the hill state while flood warnings have been issued in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi.
Ten deaths were reported from Himachal Pradesh, while 1,500 tourists, mainly from West Bengal, remained stranded in remote Kinnaur district after incessant rains triggered landslides.
Also stranded was Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh, who was electioneering for the Mandi parliamentary by-poll slated for June 23.
In Uttar Pradesh, 15 people were killed in heavy rains and floods in Saharanpur and a flood alert was sounded in several districts as the Ganga, Ghaghra and Sharda are in spate, officials said.
The situation in Uttarakhand led to suspension of the annual Kailash Mansarovar yatra owing to the relentless rains and consequent landslides.
Rescue operations are being carried out in the hill state by the army, paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the disaster management authority.
According to information from state officials, deaths have been reported from Rambada (13 dead), Gaurikund (2), Harshil (1), Vikas Nagar (4), Dhanaulti (1), Dehradun (3), Chamoli (1), and Patal Ganga (1), with three deaths reported in other places.
Hundreds of pilgrims on the Char Dham Yatra to Badrinath, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Yamunotri, remained trapped by landslides and gushing waters of several rivers in spate.
Officials said more than 5,000 people were stranded in Uttarkashi, 1,000 in Joshimath, 10,000 in Govindghat, more than 10,000 in Badrinath and 6,000 in Ghaghria.
The state government has asked officials to barricade the route before Rishikesh and ask pilgrims and tourists to go back.
The rains, which began on Saturday night, have continued for the past two days. The meteorological department said rains in the month of June had broken an 88-year-old record. Between Saturday and Sunday, Dehra Dun received 220 mm of rains, and by evening, another 220 mm of rains.
The worst-hit areas include Rudraprayag and Uttarkashi, where Mandakini river is in spate. In Rambada, the river’s waters entered the market area.
In Himachal, five members of a family, including three children, were buried alive yesterday when boulders fell on their house at Chagaon village near Tapri, some 220km from Shimla, police said.
Kinnaur district has been experiencing heavy rain for the past two days, while Pooh block experienced over one feet of snow, which locals said was untimely.
Five other people have died in various landslide and rain-related incidents in the district since Sunday.
All the deaths in Uttar Pradesh were in Saharanpur, where many pilgrims are trapped in the Shakumbhari Devi area following the rain and floods.
Flooding has been reported from Saharanpur, Bijnore, Muzaffarnagar, Gorakhpur, Siddharthanagar, Azamgarh, Lakhimpur Kheri, Ballia and Varanasi.
Delhi saw heavy rains over the weekend and intermittent showers continued last morning. The city received 58.5 mm of rain from 8.30 pm on Sunday to 8.30 am yesterday, leaving roads inundated and traffic snarls in the morning rush hour.
In Haryana, rescue teams yesterday evacuated 52 villagers, including 15 children, from a riverine island in Yamunanagar district while rescue operations were on in Karnal district, where nearly 200 people were stranded in Shergarh Tapu and Chandrao villages.
The Yamuna river had swelled since early Saturday after over 800,000 cusecs of water was released last morning through the Hathnikund barrage.
With the water expected to reach Delhi today, the city government yesterday began evacuating people from low-lying areas along the banks of the Yamuna.
“This is the first time that the rains have covered the country so early. Before this, the earliest was on June 21, 1960,” said BP Yadav, director of India Meteorological Department.
AGENCIES
