Rain ravages: 5 killed in cloudbursts in U'khand, a chunk of Manali washed away, Punjab submerged

New Delhi, Aug 29 (PTI) Cloudbursts killed five and caused to disappear 11 people across districts in Uttarakhand early Friday, while the right bank of Manali city was washed away in rain, veritably turning into a riverbed, and the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway remained closed for traffic for the fourth consecutive day due to landslides.

In Punjab's Patiala, the district administration issued an alert for several low-lying villages near the Ghaggar River following heavy rain in its catchment area.

The flooding in the Ferozepur district still persists with nearly 16,000 acres of crops inundated and 62 villages severely hit.

In Maharashtra, heavy downpour sent life out of gear in Latur and Nanded districts, leading to shutting of schools and a request to the army to launch rescue operations.

Several landslides triggered by cloudbursts in Uttarakhand swept houses and buried many under mounds of rubble.

Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri and Bageshwar districts bore most of the brunt of the natural calamity, which came close on the heels of the Tharali disaster on August 23.

On August 5, a devastating flash flood in the Kheer Ganga River in Uttarkashi district flattened nearly half of Dharali -- a key stopover en route to Gangotri.

The Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) said heavy rain overnight damaged nearly half-a-dozen houses in Pausari gram panchayat in Kapkot area of Bageshwar district, leaving two dead, one wounded, and three missing.

Two bodies were recovered, while one person was rescued in an injured condition in Bageshwar, the USDMA said. Three went missing there.

In Mopata village of Chamoli, a couple was killed in a landslide, Chief Development Officer Abhishek Tripathi said.

Heavy rain lashed Jammu and Kashmir's Katra on Friday, as the pilgrimage to the Vaishno Devi shrine remained suspended for the fourth consecutive day.

On Tuesday, a landslide claimed 34 lives and left 20 others injured on the pilgrim route to the shrine at Adhkuwari, ensconced in the Trikuta hills.

"Inclement weather conditions still persist, so a decision has been taken to continue the suspension of the Yatra in view of pilgrim safety," an official said.

Katra and Trikuta hills, on which the Vaishno Devi Shrine is located, have been witnessing heavy rain since Friday morning. The downpour didn't stop till reports last came in.

Several landslides in the Udhampur-Ramban belt rendered the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway out of bounds for the fourth consecutive day.

More than 2,000 vehicles are stranded along the 270-km-long stretch – the only all-weather road linking Kashmir with the rest of the country.

In flood-hit Punjab, more than 2,500 people were rescued, and were housed in 13 relief camps, officials said.

Pathankot, Gurdaspur, Fazilka, Kapurthala, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Hoshiarpur and Amritsar have been the worst-hit. Yet heavy rain on Friday triggered a flood alert in Patiala – among the districts worst affected in the 2023 floods.

Water level in Sutlej, Beas and Ravi rivers and seasonal rivulets continued to rise on Friday, as agencies joined hands to rescue the hundreds stranded across villages.

Scores of tourist vehicles have been stranded in Manali town for the past few days, and with road connectivity snapped, their chances of retrieval are diminishing.

The most affected areas on the Manali-Kullu National Highway are Bhutnath temple to Volvo Bus Stand, Aloo Ground, Bindu Dhank, 18 miles Bridge, 17 miles, near Patlikuhal Police Station, Dohlu Nullah, and Raison.

Roxanna, a volunteer in a school in Spiti told PTI, "I have to go back to Spiti but the road is closed and I am stuck in Manali for the past one week." Another tourist Harminder Singh said, "We came for a one month holiday and have been struck since the last 10 days because of continuous landslides and traffic jams on the Chandigarh-Manali National Highway. Now, with my wife, daughter and two dogs, the situation has become difficult." The Tangri River in Haryana's Ambala Cantonment bobbed around the danger mark due to heavy rain, leading to an alert being issued by the authorities.

Out of Latur's 60 revenue circles, 29 reported excessive rainfall till Thursday night, sending the water levels in rivers and streams to go up.

About 50 roads and bridges were shut in the district after they were inundated. The Nilanga-Udgir-Dhanegaon stretch of State Highway 238 was closed due to flooding, and the Nilanga-Udgir road was shut after a bridge on the Manjara River near Shiur got submerged.

Two roads connecting Tagarkheda to Aurad are also flooded, forcing vehicles to take a detour via Halse-Tambarwadi-Halgara to reach Bidar road.

In Nilanga taluka's Shelgi village, five bovines were killed in a lightning strike around Thursday midnight.

Heavy rain in Delhi on Friday, brought traffic to a standstill on key routes, and triggered a wall collapse that injured three children.

Three schoolchildren returning home in east Delhi's Mandawali had a narrow escape when the wall of an abandoned house collapsed on them.

The injured were identified as Pankaj, 8, Dhruv, 10, and Aadi, 8, officials said. PTI TEAM VN VN