Uttarakhand cloudburst death toll rises to 30, 10 still missing

Lucknow: The death toll has climbed to 30 after cloudburst and heavy rains lashed Dehradun and nearby places, with the recovery of more dead bodies even as 10 people were reportedly still missing.

According to the sources, the body of a Jharkhand resident Virendra Singh, who had been missing since the incident, was recovered in Majada village. Two more bodies were recovered from Saharanpur and Yamunanagar in Haryana.

So far 30 bodies have been recovered from different places. The worst hit was Parwal from where 14 people had gone missing after it was hit by a cloudburst early Tuesday. Of them, the bodies of ten people have been recovered so far.

Relief and rescue operations were continuing in the affected villages and according to the reports, some roads were opened partially enabling movement of people and also the arrival of essential commodities there.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh also visited the affected regions and reviewed the relief and rescue operations.

The hill state has been experiencing heavy rains for the past few weeks triggering a spate of landslides in many parts. Chamoli was also hit by a cloudburst on Thursday in which seven people were killed.

Heavy rains and cloudburst wreaked havoc in Dehradun and nearby places in the state early on Tuesday morning. Torrential rains caused widespread damage in the Garhwal region damaging roads, bridges, hotels and shops severely affecting movement of traffic in several districts.