Rain-triggered landslide, floods in Uttarakhand kill 11; 17 missing

In incidents reminiscent of the 2013 disaster, at least eleven people have been confirmed dead, 17 missing and more than 100 families have been affected in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh and Chamoli district as heavy rainfall since Thursday night triggered landslides and flash floods. Officials said that in Pithoragarh, eight people were killed in the landslide and eleven are missing while in Chamoli, three are dead and six are missing. Following the news of casualties, Chief Minister Harish Rawat announced an ex gratia amount of Rs2 lakh each to the kin of those who lost their lives.

The incessant rains has halted movement on Thal-Munsyari road and the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway while in Chamoli, the Alaknanda river has crossed its danger mark. The state's Disaster Mitigation and Management Center said that casualties may mount as the district authorities along with National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force are still engaged in rescuing people trapped under the muck from the landslides. Around 130 NDRF personnel working in four teams were engaged in rescue work while 200 SDRF personnel are involved.

The incidents occurred in the wee hours of Friday morning in Didihat Tehsil area of District Pithoragarh and in Ghat, Pipalkoti, Chamoli region of district Chamoli in Garhwal. Speaking to dna, additional chief Secretary S Ramaswamy informed that over 160 families had been affected so far as a result of this disaster in Pithoragarh district alone while a large number of families had been affected in district Chamoli also. Officials from Pithoragarh district administration said that the continuous and heavy rains led to landslides that destroyed property and trapped several families inside their homes too. Several houses, shops and at least two bridges were swept away due to heavy rains in the district.

Across the state, Kapkot in Bagheshwar recorded 122mm, the maximum rainfall between Thursday and Friday morning. Nainital recorded 81.6mm while Haldwani recorded 90mm.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said that heavy rainfall will continue unabated and they have issued an orange code warning for Saturday, indicating heavy to very heavy rainfall alert in the range of 60mm-120mm. IMD officials said that Nainital, Haridwar, Tehri, Pauri, Almora, Udhamsingh Nagar and Champawat are likely to receive widespread heavy rains while Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Bageshwar and Rudraprayag will receive heavy rainfall at isolated places. "Both branches of monsoon, over the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal are active and this has resulted in a surge, causing heavy rains," said Bikram Singh, director, Meteorological Centre, Dehradun.

With Inputs from Arun Pratap Singh

Two killed, many feared trapped in landslide in Arunachal

At least two people were killed while several others feared trapped in a landslide on Friday that buried several houses at Bhalukpong in Arunachal Pradesh which is being lashed by torrential rains. West Kameng district superintendent of police A Koan said the landslide occurred when a small hillock near the Old Inspection Bungalow caved in and buried several houses. While two bodies, that of a woman and a child were retrieved from the debris, several others were feared to be buried inside as several people were reportedly missing, he said, adding rescue operation was on.

The SP, who is on his way to Bhalukpong from the district headquarter town of Bomdila to supervise rescue operation,said torrential rains in the past couple of days has triggered flood-like situation in the town bordering Assam.