The weather cleared up at most places across Uttarakhand on Saturday, giving much needed pace to relief operations even as efforts were intensified to trace Almora SDM Ajay Arora, who fell into the Mandakini river three days ago.
Though the skies were clear, sporadic overnight rains continued bringing debris from the hills on to the roads, blocking them at places.
The Rishikesh highway is blocked due to debris at Naulapani and Agastyamuni, state Disaster Management and Mitigation Centre said, adding that various roads in the worst-hit Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh and Uttarkashi districts are in a similar condition.
However, clear weather at most places gave momentum to relief operations with ration being supplied to affected areas by air, officials in Dehradun said.
As the weather was clear in Rudraprayag district for the second consecutive day, fresh attempts were launched to search for Arora. A 14-member team of trained PAC divers were flown in to scour the Mandakini in Sonprayag, Gaurikund and Phata areas in a bid to look for him, District Disaster Management Officer Meera Kaintura said.
NDRF personnel were also assisting in the search operation, she added.
A body was recovered from Mandakini on Friday, but it was not that of the missing official, she said.
Police have been alerted and asked to comb the river close to the banks in search of the official, who fell into the river while returning from the Himalayan shrine of Kedarnath to Garurchatti base camp on Wednesday afternoon.
