Uttarkashi flash flood update: 50+ still missing, 190 rescued amid devastation

Aug 7 (Hindustan Times): As rescue and relief operations entered the third day on Thursday after the devastating cloudburst in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi, around 190 people, including 11 army personnel, have been rescued from the worst-hit Dharali area, according to officials.

More than 50 people are still missing, while two bodies were recovered on Wednesday, taking the reported death toll up to 5. However, the official number of casualties from the disaster remained unclear.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the affected Dharali village on Wednesday, where flash floods and landslides triggered by extreme weather destroyed homes, cut off access routes, and swept away residents.

“The entire state government stands firmly with the people of Dharali in this difficult time,” Dhami said. “Our priority is to provide relief to every affected person and restore normalcy at the earliest.”

Uttarkashi cloudburst rescue operations continue: 10 latest developments

1. Arpan Yaduvanshi, SDRF commandant (Uttarakhand) said that till 6 pm, around 190 people, including 11 army personnel, had been rescued in Dharali. “The injured army personnel have been airlifted to Dehradun,” he added.

2. The rescue teams scrambled to locate survivors amid widespread devastation. Relief teams recovered two bodies on Wednesday and personnel on the ground warned that this number would likely spiral.

3. “The entire state government stands firmly with the people of Dharali in this difficult time. Our priority is to provide relief to every affected person and restore normalcy at the earliest,” the chief minister said, adding that senior officials have been put on 24x7 emergency duty and are monitoring the situation closely from the State Emergency Operations Centre in Dehradun.

4. Earlier on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Dhami over the phone and was briefed about the relief efforts. Dhami thanked him in a social media post for extending support to the disaster-hit state.

5. A 100-metre section of road at Bhatwari, 50km away, caved in, and a bridge at Limchagad was washed away, cutting off the shortest access to the affected villages. Connectivity to Dharali from Uttarkashi, 60km away, remains a major challenge.

6. Speaking about the possible cause behind the incident, Safi Ahsan Rizvi, Advisor (Mitigation), NDMA and executive director, National Institute of Disaster Management, said, “There are indications that a glacial snout at 6,700 m detached some days ago and large glacio-fluvial debris deposits collected. Incessant rain over the past few days is believed to have led to loosening of the debris."

7. He added, “Once critical mass was crossed, the massive collection of debris cascaded downstream with water in the Kheer Ganga, accelerating due to the steep gradient up to Dharali.”

8. Residents look forward to locate their missing relatives, one of the victim Rakesh Panwar, who works in Uttarkashi town, said, “My brother Sushil had gone home for lunch, just a kilometre away. Moments after the cloudburst, he called me in shock, saying, ‘Nothing is left. Mukesh, Vijeta, and Anik couldn’t escape the deluge.”

9. Heavy to very heavy rainfall will likely continue in Uttarakhand for the next 24 hours but will likely reduce thereafter, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast. But light to moderate rain is likely to continue over the western Himalayas for the next seven days.

10. All government and private schools and Anganwadi centres in Uttarkashi will remain closed on August 7 due to the IMD’s warning of further heavy rainfall, the district administration announced.