A bright sunny day gave way to a downpour in Dehradun and adjoining areas on Saturday even as swollen rivers across Uttarakhand continued to claim lives leaving three persons, including a girl, dead in separate incidents.
People of Dehradun woke up to a bright sunny morning as weather cleared up at most places across Uttarakhand but as the day wore on, heavy rains lashed the State capital and areas close to it.
Swirling waters of the rivers and canals swept away a girl and a youth in Tehri and Chamoli districts respectively, whereas a man was killed at Joshimath after being hit by a rock rolling down from a nearby hill on Friday, officials said.
Landslips led to sinking of land at different places in Tehri, razing 17 houses to the ground across the district.
Fortunately, there were no casualties as the occupants had already moved to safer places in anticipation, they said.
Yamunotri, Gangotri, Badrinath and Kedarnath highways are still blocked by debris falling from the hills, they said.
A 13-year-old girl at Chamiala village of Tehri’s Ghansali sub-division was swept away by the surging waters of Balganga river where she had gone along with her father to wash clothes. The girl slipped and fell into the river and was washed away by its strong currents. The villagers kept scouring the river till late in the evening in search of the girl but to no avail, officials said here.
A man in his thirties was killed at Joshimath in Chamoli district when a huge rock falling from the hills near Garhi temple hit him, killing him on the spot.
Two brothers were flown down a seasonal stream while returning from their college in the district. As they raised an alarm, villagers saved one of them while the other drowned. Landslides razed to ground 11 houses in Indarola village and six in Nava Gaon.
In Uprari and Saragaon villages in Uttarkashi district, a large chunk of agricultural land was destroyed.
However, State Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre authorities in Dehradun said the weather was clear in most districts in Uttarakhand with no report of any untoward incident anywhere.
