Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India] : The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) is continuously monitoring the situation in Uttarakhand with teams conducting overnight rescue operations, amid a flood-like situation triggered by heavy rains in the state. According to SDRF after the Meteorological Department issued a Red alert for the state, all the teams were on high alert. Navneet Bhullar SDRF commandant, Uttarakhand is personally monitoring the situation and taking all the required information from the State Emergency Operation Centre for giving guidelines to the officials concerned for rescue and relief operations. Along with this, the SDRF control room team is engaged in gathering information about each development from the officials concerned.
The SDRF said that Tuesday was very challenging due to incessant heavy rain. The calls for rescue kept on coming throughout the night and a quick response was given by the teams. On Monday, in the overnight operation, the rescue team conducted many operations in different places across the state and rescued over 50 people were rescued including the devotees stuck in incessant rainfall while returning from the Kedarnath temple. The SDRF along with Uttarakhand police on Monday rescued 22 devotees stuck at Jungle Chatti while returning from Kedarnath Temple. The team also rescued four labours, who were got trapped in the debris, of which one woman was injured and was immediately sent to the hospital. Due to the landslide, many vehicles were stuck in the debris and the SDRF team safely evacuated the people from their vehicles.
The SDRF team also rescued a girl trapped in the house, which collapsed due to heavy rainfall in the Heera Dungri Almora area. Further in the night, it also rescued 25 trekkers who were stranded on Gaumukh Marg near the Kankhu barrier and brought them safely to Gangotri. According to the Chamoli district administration, 2,500 devotees, who had gone to Badrinath, are still stationed at the Badrinath Temple waiting for the highway to re-open. However, the rain continues to lash the state and Badrinath received fresh snowfall this morning. As a precautionary measure, the Badrinath Char Dham Yatra has been halted, and passengers en route to Badrinath Temple were stopped in safe places. The water level in the Nandakini River has also rose significantly raising an alarm. As per Meteorological Centre Dehradun, Chamoli received 19.8 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours. National forecasting agency — India Meteorological Department — has issued a red alert for Uttarakhand with a forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall in the state and heavy rainfall has been predicted for the next few days. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke to Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami to take stock of the situation arising due to heavy rains in the state. Earlier, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister took detailed information from officials concerned about the situation of excessive rainfall in the state. He has been taking stock of the situation from the disaster control room of the state’s secretariat.
