Dharali village swept away in Uttarakhand flash floods; five dead, over 100 people including 21 soldiers missing

NEW DELHI: Lightning flash floods followed by a cloudburst swept away Dharali village near Uttarkashi in Uttarakhand, a place frequented by pilgrims and tourists in large numbers. More than a hundred people are missing. Five deaths have been confirmed. Ten soldiers and a junior commissioned officer who arrived for the rescue operation are missing.

In addition, about ten soldiers are also missing in Harsil, a nearby area where an army camp is located. A 150-member team rushed to Dharali, four kilometres away, for the rescue mission.

Dharali is the main base on the route to Gangotri, one of the Char Dham pilgrimage centres. Houses, hotels, restaurants and roads in the town were washed away. The real numbers are being collected. There are fears of more casualties in Tuesday's flash floods, considered to be one of the worst flood disasters in the state.

More than 50 people were rescued and admitted to the military hospital in Harsil. The seriously injured were also taken to AIIMS in Rishikesh. NDRF, SDRF and ITBP teams were also deployed for the rescue operation.

Visuals of the flash flood engulfing the entire region have surfaced, and it is scary. A person covered in mud has also been seen making a daring escape. The Meteorological Department declared a red alert in the region. Roads in nearby areas have been closed in the wake of the landslide. The Jyotirmath-Malari Motorway was washed away.

Within hours of the Dharali disaster, another cloudburst occurred in nearby Sukhi Top. The water level in the rivers has risen steadily. This has made rescue operations difficult. Power and communication systems have been disrupted.

This is a valley in the Bhagirathi ecologically sensitive region of the Himalayan mountains.

The disaster occurred at around 01.45 pm on Tuesday. A cloudburst in the catchment area of the Kheer Ganga river caused the disaster. A cloudburst is a phenomenon that causes extremely heavy rain to fall in a small area in a short period. It is reported that 21 centimetres (eight inches) of hefty rain fell.

1. In 2012, in the Assi Ganga region- 35 people died

2. In 2012 itself, in Rudraprayag - 69 people died

3. In 2013, in Kedarnath- It is estimated that over 4000 people died