Two people died and five were critically injured after a house collapsed amid heavy rains in the Helang area of Joshimath town in Uttarakhand late on Tuesday night and the early hours of Wednesday. A 50 metre stretch of the Badrinath National Highway — an all-weather road — was washed away in a landslide that left hundreds of people stranded on both sides, as the rains continued to batter the hill States.
Since the monsoon started on June 15, at least 327 people have died in rain-related incidents in Himachal Pradesh, and 38 people are missing. In Uttarakhand, at least 74 people have died over the same period, while 19 people are missing.
Over the last 24 hours, rescuers have pulled out another four bodies, including those of a couple and their son, from the debris of a resort in Uttarakhand’s Lakshman Jhula that was hit by a landslide on Monday. Of the six people in the resort, the only survivor was a ten-year-old girl.
Timely alert
In another landslide on Wednesday, at least five houses were turned to rubble in the Vikas Nagar area of Uttarakhand. However, no lives were lost as the residents were able to evacuate their homes due to the alert sounded by the State Disaster Response Force.
SDRF and police teams also carried out overnight rescue operations in Helang, where a two-story building collapsed near a crusher plant collapse, according to Inspector Harak Singh Rana. Though they managed to pull out all those stuck in the debris, two people were declared dead by the time they reached the hospital. Two people have been critically injured, while three others were admitted due to fractures and other wounds.
IAF evacuations
In Himachal Pradesh, the Indian Air Force managed to evacuate 5,040 people who have been stranded at various locations in the State in the past 48 hours. Around 500 people have been rescued in Shimla since Tuesday, while 250 people have been rescued from Kangra in the last two days. In Gurdaspur and other areas, the IAF’s rescue operation was ongoing till Wednesday evening.
Rescue teams managed to pull out the body of a woman from the debris of a collapsed Shiv temple near Summer Hill.
Emphasising the need to fortify urban drainage systems, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that proper water management was important to prevent hill destabilisation. The State government is preparing a comprehensive, long-term disaster preparedness plan, earmarking around ₹800 crore for its implementation, said the CM, adding that this was aimed at mitigating the impact of future disasters and enhancing the State’s resilience.
