Uttarkashi flash floods | Death toll rises to 6; many still missing even as rescue operations continue

Lucknow: The death toll in Tuesday’s flash flood which flattened and swept away houses at Dharali village in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district, has risen to six with the recovery of one more body on Thursday even as many people, including tourists from other states, were still reportedly missing.

Rescue operations, which were hampered by rains and blocked roads, gained momentum on Wednesday when the weather turned favourable enabling the choppers to transport the people, including the sick to safer places.

According to the reports, two injured Army jawans were airlifted to a higher centre in Dehradun.

An NDRF official said that four teams were deployed to carry out rescue operations but all the members of the team could not reach Dharali as the roads were blocked or damaged at several places.

State Disaster Management officials said that as many as 274 people, which included stranded tourists from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, UP, Rajasthan, Karnataka and other states, were brought from Uttarkashi to Dehradun.

Reports said that 16 tourists from Jalgaon in Maharashtra were missing and efforts were on to trace them.

Reports said that pokland machines were being airlifted with the help of IAF to open the blocked roads.

The state government rushed a team of the irrigation department to inspect a temporary lake formed in the Bhagirathi river after the tragedy. Sources said that water was being drained from the lake

Dharali, which is 20 kilometres from Gangotri, a famous Hindu pilgrimage, was hit by flash flood following a cloudburst, on Tuesday. A large number of houses in the village were swept away by the massive wave of water. Videos of the incident have gone viral on social media platforms.

Uttarakhand has been experiencing heavy rains for the past few days causing landslides at many places.