Uttarakhand cloudburst: 12 dead, houses buried in Dharali flashfloods

Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand): Disaster swept through the Himalayan village of Dharali on way to Gangotri on Tuesday with a massive cloudburst leading to flashfloods that barrelled through homes, trees and cars, trapping 60-70 people and leaving at least 12 dead.

Dharali is the main stopover on way to Gangotri, the origin of the Ganges, and home to many hotels, restaurants and home stays.

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At least half the village was buried under the fast flowing mudslide of slush, rubble and water, officials said as rescue personnel battled the elements in the ecologically fragile heights to contain the damage of the afternoon.

Contiguous buildings, including three and four-storey houses, fell like a pack of cards as the surging waters washed over them. The devastating flashflood came in the wake of a cloudburst somewhere in the catchment area of the Kheer Ganga river.

And Dharali was not the only hit.

The raging waters flowed down two different sides of the same hill, one towards Dharali and the other towards the village of Sukki, said state Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman.

The rain continued through the afternoon and till evening, hampering rescue efforts.

Besides, landslides blocked 163 roads, including five national highways, seven state highways and two border roads across the state, further impeding rescue and preventing personnel from getting to the far-flung area, about 140 km from the state capital Dehradun and usually a five-hour drive.

An army team from the nearest location of Harsil was immediately rushed to the spot to launch rescue operations but teams from other places found it difficult to reach due to bad weather and disrupted roads, Suman said.

According to initial reports, at least 12 people have died, Uttarkashi District Magistrate Prashant Arya told reporters in Dehradun before rushing to the spot.

There was no official confirmation on the number of people who went missing after the flashflood but it is likely to be high as the sudden rush of floodwaters gave people no time to run towards safety.

Uttarakhand Principal Secretary R K Sudhanshu said 40 to 50 buildings are damaged. He added that helicopters could not be pressed into service either because of bad weather.

As darkness fell, announcements were made asking people to move to safer ground.

Locals said a large portion of the Dharali market was washed away.

Rajesh Panwar, an eyewitness to the horror of nature’s relentless fury, told PTI that about 20-25 hotels and homestays may have been washed away.

A 16-member Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) team reached Dharali from its 12th battalion stationed at Matli in Uttarakhand while another unit of the same strength was also asked to rush to the disaster site, officials said.

The team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is yet to reach the area.

There was widespread panic in the neighbouring villages following the flashflood.

Videos from the area showed a torrent of muddy water and silt tearing through the slopes towards settlements along the banks of the river. People could be heard screaming in fear.

In one video, people can be heard in the video gasping for breath and trying to call their relatives in affected areas to find out if they were alright.

A voice is heard in the video saying, "Everything is finished." In another, a man is seen trying to walk through the slushy waters but being unable to.

No stone is being left unturned in providing assistance to the people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in a post on X.

"I express my condolences to the people affected by this tragedy in Dharali, Uttarkashi. Along with this, I pray for the well-being of all the victims. I have spoken to Chief Minister Pushkar Dhami ji and obtained information about the situation. Under the supervision of the state government, relief and rescue teams are engaged in every possible effort,” he said.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah also spoke to Dhami and ordered the dispatch of seven rescue teams to assist the affected people.

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh added that the Centre and the state government are working in tandem, taking all possible measures to save precious lives.

"Have been seeing disturbing visuals from Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand) on the devastation caused by flash floods. Praying for the well-being of the people affected by the tragedy...," he wrote on X.

Beds have been kept ready at AIIMS, Rishikesh and ambulances rushed to Dharali.

Dhami, who happened to be in Andhra Pradesh, cancelled his trip to return to Dehradun. He said he is constantly in touch with senior officials and the situation is being closely monitored.

"The news of heavy losses due to cloudburst in Dharali (Uttarkashi) area is extremely sad and painful. SDRF, NDRF, district administration and other related teams are engaged on war footing in relief and rescue operations," he said in a post on X.

Tomorrow might not bring much relief either. The Meteorological department has put out an orange alert for heavy rain for seven districts, including Nainital, Champawat, Udham Singh Nagar, Bageshwar, Pauri Tehri, Haridwar and Dehradun.

Cloudbursts are counted as among the most devastating natural disasters in the Indian Himalayas, causing an enormous amount of rainfall across a limited area within an extremely short span of time.

According to the India Meteorological Department, rain falling at a rate of over 100 millimetres an hour with strong winds and lightning across 20-30 square kilometres of area is termed a cloudburst.

The Indian Himalayas are considered vulnerable to unusual and extreme weather events, including cloudbursts, extreme precipitation, flash floods, and avalanches, the risk of all of which is said to increase as climate change intensifies.

Occurrence of extreme weather events is frequent for locations at elevation 1,000-2,000 metres, "which are densely populated valley folds of the Himalayas", according to a 2023 paper by researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology, Jammu, and National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee. Uttarkashi is located at about 1,160 metres above sea level.

Cloudburst events per unit area are "very high in Uttarakhand", compared to other regions in the Indian Himalayas, with recent events being more severe and impacting more communities, it said.

Researchers have called for concrete policies, planning and management of cloudburst events by national and global organisations.