6 more die in Uttarakhand rain; 130 people rescued from submerged houses

As incessant torrential rainfall continues to batter Uttarakhand, at least six people have died in separate rain-related incidents over the past 24 hours across the state, according to official data on Thursday. Yellow and orange alerts have been issued in several districts for the next three days.

The flood-like situations in many areas have left many people trapped in their submerged houses. According to the latest reports, the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) Thursday rescued nearly 130 people – 80 from the Kashipur area of Udham Singh Nagar district and 50 from Rishikesh’s Muni ki Reti area – from their houses with the help of rafts.

On Wednesday, two children were killed and another was injured after the hut they were sleeping in collapsed in a landslide in the Gaurikund area. In Rishikesh, a wall collapsed near Chaurasi Kutiya in the Laxman Jhula area on Wednesday, trapping two people under the debris. According to Inspector Kavindra Sajwan, one person died while the other has been rescued. The body of 84-year-old Gajanan was recovered after an intensive search by the SDRF.

On August 3 a massive landslide in the Gaurikund area, the main stop of the Kedarnath yatra, washed away three multistorey shops, killing four people. At least 19 others are still missing and search operations are conducted.

Since June 15, 46 people have died, 35 injured and 20 are still missing due to rain-related incidents and landslides across the state. Over 1,150 houses have been partially damaged, 117 severely damaged and 31 houses have fully collapsed in the last two months.

Due to water coming from the forest behind Dhalwala SBI Bank, some houses were flooded there too. The possible danger was removed by draining the water from the houses.