Two persons died and at least eight are missing following flash floods caused by heavy rains in Nandanagar area of Chamoli district during the wee hours of Thursday. Dozens of homes and cowsheds were also damaged in the disaster. Kuntari Lagafali, Kuntri Laga Sarpani and Dhurma villages were worst hit by the disaster in the area. This is the second major disaster in the State after the Dehradun floods witnessed on Tuesday.
According to information from the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), information was received that heavy rain was witnessed at about 3am on Thursday at Kuntari Lagafali due to which six persons were reported missing, buried in debris. About 20 homes and cowsheds were also damaged in the village.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel pulled out a body from the debris of a home.
Two women and a child were safely removed from the debris while up to 200 villagers were rescued and taken to safer locations. The injured were taken by helicopter to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Rishikesh. In addition to one person killed, five are missing and three were injured in the village.
In the Kuntari Laga Sarpani village, one person died and one missing while two buildings were damaged due to heavy rain at 3 am. Initially, two persons were reported missing and search and rescue operations resulted in the discovery of one body.
Similarly, in the Dhurma village it is estimated that two persons are missing while upto 10 buildings were damaged in the disaster. In addition to the NDRF, the State Disaster Response Force, revenue department, district administration teams and the local police are conducting the search, rescue and relief operations in the affected villages.
The disaster in Chamoli comes within about 48 hours of the disaster witnessed in Dehradun and some other parts of the State on Tuesday which had resulted in about two dozen deaths so far, in addition to considerable damage to Government and private property including road infrastructure.
