At least 54 people have died so far in various incidents triggered over the past four days by heavy rains and subsequent flash floods in Uttarakhand with rescue workers retrieving two more bodies on Wednesday night, as per the state government’s account on Thursday morning.19 others are reported to be injured and five are still missing after heavy rains lashed the hilly state between October 17 and 19.
“Among the 54 deaths, maximum 28 were from Nainital district which is the worst affected in the state. Champawat was next with 8 reported deaths followed by Almora were 6 lives were lost,” stated the latest government report.
The report states that in the floods caused by heavy rains in the state’s Kumaon region, one person lost his life on October 17, eight on October 18 and 35 on October 19. According to an official statement, majority of the deaths were due to house collapses. Forty-six of such houses suffered damages.
Earlier on Wednesday night, Union minister of home Amit Shah reached Dehradun to assess the situation. He will be conducting aerial survey of the affected areas on Thursday morning along with chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, who had conducted both aerial and ground surveys of the affected areas on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said on Wednesday that it has rescued over 1,300 people from the affected areas. Seventeen teams of the NDRF have been deployed across Uttarakhand.
As the weather conditions improved on Wednesday, state government authorities allowed the stranded pilgrims to proceed towards the Chardham destinations of Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri.