Uttarakhand cloudbursts: Villages damaged, pilgrims stranded and animals buried under debris
There was heavy rain in the Balganga valley during the day, and people were alert enough to run to safety, an official in charge said.
A string of cloudbursts triggered by heavy rain in Uttarakhand’s Tehri district on Saturday damaged scores of houses in more than half a dozen villages in the state’s Balganga valley. While there are no reports on any casualty so far, the cloudbursts also left hundreds of devotees on the Char Dhaam Yatra, a pilgrimage, stranded, The Indian Express reported.
The cloudbursts took place around 3 pm in Kothiara village, where some 50 residential houses were affected, and at least a hundred animals are feared buried alive under debris. The villages of Kemra and Siliara saw similar cloudbursts and were inundated. A motorbridge was washed away; two storeys of a hostel were caught under the rubble; a public school building was razed in a flash flood.
District Magistrate in charge Ahmed Iqbal said people were alert enough to run to safety as the rain thundered down took place during daytime. Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Ghansali Vinod Kumar said the stranded pilgrims were being evacuated to safety.
