Uttarakhand flood toll 110, thousands missing

Soldiers rescue stranded villagers in the northern Uttarakhand state yesterday.

Agencies/Dehradun/Lucknow

Thousands of people are missing following the devastating floods in Uttarakhand, officials said yesterday, adding the death toll may run into frightening figures.

While the Uttarakhand government has confirmed the death of 110 people, officials privately concede the number of fatalities may be much more than what is now known.

The dead include two policemen and three troopers of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

One official involved in the evacuation and rescue work said they feared thousands might have perished in the rains and flash floods lashing the northern state since Friday.

“We are not sure of the number of people who have died in the rains but for sure the numbers are much higher as more than 15,000 people are reported missing,” a senior official said.

Military helicopters dropped emergency supplies to thousands of tourists and pilgrims stranded by the flash floods.

Thousands of people have already been evacuated, they said.

“As of now we know that over 65,000 people are stranded,” Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters in New Delhi.

“We are committed to rescuing everyone now that the rains have stopped,” the minister said, adding that the army has evacuated 5,000 people cut off by the downpour.

Torrential rains at least three times as heavy as usual have hit Uttarakhand, often called the “Land of the Gods,” where Hindu shrines and temples built high in the mountains attract many pilgrims.

“At least 110 people have died. The state government and the army are trying to rescue thousands of tourists who are stranded near the submerged valleys and Hindu shrines,” said Yashpal Arya, the disaster relief minister of Uttarakhand.

At least another 28 people have been killed in the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh, officials said.

Authorities fear the death toll could rise, with emergency workers still unable to reach marooned villages, particularly in worst-hit Uttarakhand.

Houses, multi-storied buildings, cars, bridges as well as roads have been swept away or damaged after rivers burst their banks, forcing authorities to deploy 22 helicopters to evacuate people and drop essential food and other supplies.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Party chief Sonia Gandhi flew over the disaster area to survey the extent of the damage.

Tourists have been travelling to Uttarakhand in recent weeks to undertake pilgrimages before some sites are shut down for the monsoon season, which does not normally start for another two weeks.

Minister Arya said portions of a revered Hindu temple have been washed away, leaving thousands of pilgrims stranded.

“The Kedarnath temple is submerged in mud and slush. We just hope that it does not collapse,” Arya said.

Some 3,000 soldiers from the ITBP were taking part in the rescue operation, erecting makeshift bridges to reach those stranded, said Ajay Chadha, chief of the paramilitary force.

“Things are quite unprecedented in Uttarakhand, the situation is grim and quite serious,” Chadha told reporters in New Delhi.

“But weather has slightly improved so there is a ray of hope... and wherever it is possible we are making rope bridges where the bridges have been washed away and log bridges and trying to rescue as many as possible,” he added.

Local officials said 40 relief camps have been set up to house evacuated locals and tourists. Air force helicopters are ferrying many of those rescued to the camps, with a control centre set up in the holy town of Badrinath.

In Uttar Pradesh, 18 people, including a family of five, were killed in rain-related accidents yesterday. A doctor and his family were driving through Saharanpur district, when their car was swept away in a flash flood, officials said.

In neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, flash floods destroyed more than 500 houses and government buildings and at least 10 people were killed in landslides, officials said.