Heavy downpour in Uttarakhand leaves 7 dead, 4 injured

Dehra Dun, Aug 15 (UNI) Heavy downpour that lashed Uttarakhand last night left seven people including two girls and a woman, dead and four others injured, two by them seriously, in separate incidents.

According to the Disaster Management Control Room, two, girls and their mother died when their house was wrecked under landslide at Bandwar Village of Chamoli district.

Meanwhile, four persons died and four others were injured, two seriously, in a landslide at Kasan village of Pauri district. Three of the dead bodies have been extracted from the debris so far.

Disaster Management and District Administration have commenced search and rescue operations.

As the road is both the seriously injured have been admitted in a local private clinic.

In Haridwar, the water level of Ganga has increased by 80 metres above the danger level last night. However, Central Water Control Report said that the water has receded to 292.63 metres against the danger Level mark of 294 metres. District Administration has sounded a red-alert.

Following heavy rains, many railway tracks were submerged adversely affecting the rail services between Haridwar-Dehra Dun and Dehra Dun-Luxar. The road to Moradabad has also been closed.

As many as 12 people at Press Puri, Haridwar were trapped in their houses last night due to waterlogging. They were evacuated by relief personnel who entered the lodgings through the roof.

Chamoli National Highway has also been reportedly blocked due to landslides. The landslide at Badrinath Road and Chamoli National Highway have also resulted in their closure.

More than 35 houses have been reportedly damaged following the heavy rains in Gairsain areas. However, no loss of lives have been reported so far.

Though a sunny day was experienced in Haridwar, Dehra Dun and Udhamsingh Nagar district this morning, several hill districts were still in the grip of heavy rain, Disaster Management Control Room sources said.

Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Maj Gen (Retd) Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri expressed grief over the deaths and instructed the district administrations to remain alert and prepared to meet any eventualities.

UNI