<p>Akash and his three friends watched in horror as a rain swollen river in Uttarakhand washed away their car, leaving them stranded.<br /><br /></p>.<p>On their return to Haridwar, they said they escaped the nature's fury by taking shelter at a private helipad. <br /><br />All four feel they have had a second birth. At one time, they had given up all hopes of surviving the rampaging floods in Uttarakhand that have claimed over 100 lives and affected thousands. <br /><br />"We saw houses and hotels collapse like they were made of cardboard," recounted another survivor of a group from Lucknow that went to Kedarnath, one of the worst hit places in Uttarakhand.<br /><br />Even as the authorities, with help from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the army, stepped up rescue efforts, survivors from last week's heavy rains, landslides and cloud bursts have returned with harrowing tales. <br /><br />One survivor recounted how a girl walking ahead of them was suddenly swept away in the rains. Apparently, more than 100 people, mostly pilgrims, remain stranded near Sonprayag. <br /><br />Shailendra Prakash Singh, another survivor, says the destruction was so sweeping that he was left only with the clothes he was in. Everything else he had was lost.<br /><br />Rampati Ram Tripathi, former Uttar Pradesh president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is trapped in a Garhwal tourism guest house in Uttarkashi. Efforts are on to rescue him. <br /><br />He has told party colleagues that he has been stranded since June 15 after returning from Gangotri. According to him, all major roads have been wiped off the map. <br /><br />"There is no help coming our way," he complained. "There is no power, no food. All that we have is shelter at this place," he said on telephone.<br /><br />There are more than 20 people from Lucknow and over 30 families from Uttar Pradesh who have been caught in the disaster in Uttarakhand, informed sources said. <br />Many were lucky to telephonically alert their families before losing the mobile network. <br /><br />Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government confirmed Wednesday that bodies of two policemen and three ITBP troopers who were washed way earlier have been recovered. <br />Director General of Police Satyavrat said the force might have lost more people. <br /><br />"Policemen posted at a temporary police station in Rambada are still untraced and we don't know what has happened to them," he said. Rambada is located on the route to Kedarnath.<br /><br />Several private companies and social groups like the Haridwar-based Gayatri Parivaar are taking care of people coming back from Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag.</p>
<p>Akash and his three friends watched in horror as a rain swollen river in Uttarakhand washed away their car, leaving them stranded.<br /><br /></p>.<p>On their return to Haridwar, they said they escaped the nature's fury by taking shelter at a private helipad. <br /><br />All four feel they have had a second birth. At one time, they had given up all hopes of surviving the rampaging floods in Uttarakhand that have claimed over 100 lives and affected thousands. <br /><br />"We saw houses and hotels collapse like they were made of cardboard," recounted another survivor of a group from Lucknow that went to Kedarnath, one of the worst hit places in Uttarakhand.<br /><br />Even as the authorities, with help from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the army, stepped up rescue efforts, survivors from last week's heavy rains, landslides and cloud bursts have returned with harrowing tales. <br /><br />One survivor recounted how a girl walking ahead of them was suddenly swept away in the rains. Apparently, more than 100 people, mostly pilgrims, remain stranded near Sonprayag. <br /><br />Shailendra Prakash Singh, another survivor, says the destruction was so sweeping that he was left only with the clothes he was in. Everything else he had was lost.<br /><br />Rampati Ram Tripathi, former Uttar Pradesh president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is trapped in a Garhwal tourism guest house in Uttarkashi. Efforts are on to rescue him. <br /><br />He has told party colleagues that he has been stranded since June 15 after returning from Gangotri. According to him, all major roads have been wiped off the map. <br /><br />"There is no help coming our way," he complained. "There is no power, no food. All that we have is shelter at this place," he said on telephone.<br /><br />There are more than 20 people from Lucknow and over 30 families from Uttar Pradesh who have been caught in the disaster in Uttarakhand, informed sources said. <br />Many were lucky to telephonically alert their families before losing the mobile network. <br /><br />Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand government confirmed Wednesday that bodies of two policemen and three ITBP troopers who were washed way earlier have been recovered. <br />Director General of Police Satyavrat said the force might have lost more people. <br /><br />"Policemen posted at a temporary police station in Rambada are still untraced and we don't know what has happened to them," he said. Rambada is located on the route to Kedarnath.<br /><br />Several private companies and social groups like the Haridwar-based Gayatri Parivaar are taking care of people coming back from Uttarkashi and Rudraprayag.</p>