Rain fury in Uttarakhand leaves three dead, Chardham Yatra suspended

Torrential rains ravaged Uttarakhand on Monday destroying buildings and causing landslides which breached the national highways to Badrinath Kedarnath and Gangotri shrines and left three people dead and five others missing PTI reportedA private defence training academy on the outskirts of Dehradun also collapsed amid the incessant rains the report saidChief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a meeting with senior officials to review the rain situation in the state and it was decided to suspend the Chardham yatra for two daysRudraprayag district disaster management officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said a landslide hit a camp at Lincholi near Kedarnath killing one person identified as 26yearold Kalu Bahadur from NepalTwo bodies were also recovered from rainfed streams near Shiv Mandir and Miranagar areas in Rishikesh One of them has been identified as 35yearold Dinesh Panwar a resident of Amit Gram The other body is being identified an official at AIIMS Rishikesh where the bodies have been kept saidFourfive people were missing after a landslide in the Laxmanjhula area of Pauri districtHeavy rains triggered the landslide whose debris fell on a resort in the area trapping fourfive people under it Senior Superintendent of Police Pauri Shweta Choubey told PTI over the phoneAlso read Chandrayaan3 spacecraft undergoes another maneuver comes even closer to moons surfaceRescue and relief teams have reached the spot and a search operation has been started she saidDhami in a Facebook post said heavy casualties have been reported due to rains in Pauri which is extremely sadSwollen rivers inundated many districts with surging rainwater entering buildings and submerging vehiclesLocated on the banks of Song River near Lalpul the building of the Dehradun Defence Academy caved in on Monday morning Tehri Sub Divisional Magistrate Ashish Ghildiyal saidNo one was injured as the building had been vacated in advance he saidIt is a private institution whose building was constructed 15 years ago former Zilla panchayat member Akhilesh Uniyal saidMost of the rivers were overflowing due to the rain with the Ganga flowing above the danger mark in Tehri Haridwar and RishikeshAlaknanda Mandakini and Ganga rivers were flowing above the danger level at Rudraprayag Shrinagar and Devprayag the disaster control room here saidThe Badrinath National Highway is blocked at a number of places due to landslide debris There is also information about one person being buried under the debris near PipalkotiIn the Chamoli district a floodlike situation has developed along the banks of a dozen rivers including Alaknanda and its tributaries Pindar Nandakini and BirhiPindars tributary Pranmati was also flooded due to a landslide Landslides in the upper reaches of Nandakini have caused the water level of the river to increase in the lower areasThere are reports of loss of lives due to landslides in Pipalkoti town and surrounding areas on Badrinath National HighwayRiver Ganga is flowing at the danger mark in Rishikesh Junior Engineer Central Water Commission Sunny Vishnoi saidThe Commission recorded 435 mm of rainfall in Rishikesh on Sunday nightHeavy rains have also inundated various lowlying areas in Rishikesh including Chandreshwar Nagar and Sheesham JhariThe rural areas near Rishikesh have been flooded with the State Disaster Response Force evacuating people to a safer placeThe Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for rain for Monday in six districts of Uttarakhand including Dehradun Tehri Pauri Udham Singh Nagar Nainital and Champawat and issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rain in Haridwar Agencies