Flash floods in Northern India kill at least 4 as entire villages swept away
At least four people have been killed and many feared missing after flash floods swept through a Himalayan village in northern India.
Footage shows floodwaters surging down a mountain and crashing into homes, small hotels, and guesthouses in Dharali, a mountain village in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand state.
The flooding was triggered by intense cloud bursts - sudden and highly localised heavy rainstorms.
In the aftermath of the disaster, government-run schools and colleges have been ordered to shut as emergency operations continue.
While officials have so far confirmed four fatalities, unverified reports from the ground indicate the true toll may be significantly higher.
A local journalist based in Uttarkashi told ITV News after interviewing residents and eyewitnesses, he feared more than 300 people may have died in the flooding.
He said: "I've spoken to many locals who say entire families and clusters of homes were swept away.
"The scale of destruction is unlike anything we've seen here."
Authorities have yet to corroborate this claim, and efforts to verify the numbers are ongoing as access to remote areas remains difficult due to landslides and damaged infrastructure.
India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has deployed three teams to the disaster zone, while two more are on standby for air deployment.
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) — a paramilitary force that often assists in mountainous rescues — has dispatched multiple teams, including a 16-member group already operating in the affected zone.
Local police, fire services, and soldiers from the Indian Army's Rajput Rifles regiment are also on the ground assisting with evacuations.
According to Uttarkashi's senior police official Sarita Doval, residents have been moved to safe shelters, but the operation remains complex.
She told Indian news agency ANI: "Our teams are working in extremely challenging conditions.
"Landslides have blocked some access routes, leaving a few rescue teams stranded temporarily"
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said in a statement that rescue agencies were working 'on a war footing' and were doing everything possible to save lives.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he has spoken with Chief Minister Dhami and added in a post on X: "Rescue and relief efforts are underway in full force. Every possible measure is being taken to help those affected."
President of India Droupadi Murmu also expressed her condolences, calling the event "extremely tragic" and praying for the success of ongoing rescue operations.
Dharali is area that also serves as a key stop along the route to Gangotri, one of Hinduism's holiest pilgrimage sites nestled in the Himalayas.
It is believed a local religious fair being held nearby may have inadvertently reduced the number of people in the direct path of the floodwaters.
Trivendra Singh Rawat, a former Chief Minister of Uttarakhand and current member of the Indian parliament, told the Press Trust of India (PTI): "Because many locals had gathered for the fair, fewer people were at home when the flooding hit."
"The situation is still critical, but this may have prevented a greater loss of life."
The Uttarakhand Police have issued an official public warning, urging residents to stay away from riverbanks and ensure the safety of children and animals as water levels in the Kheer Ganga and adjacent rivers continue to rise.
Uttarkashi is located in a seismically and climatically sensitive zone of the Indian Himalayas, near the border with China and Nepal.
The flooding in northern India is the latest in a series of disasters that have battered the Himalayan mountains, which span across five countries, in the last few months.
Flooding and landslides as a result of heavy rains and glaciers melting due to high temperatures have killed over 300 people in Pakistan, reported the country's disaster agency.
The region frequently experiences cloudbursts, which can trigger landslides and floods in minutes.
Over 6,000 people died and 4,500 villages were affected when a similar cloudburst devastated Uttarakhand state in 2013.
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3 days ago
- Reuters
Helicopters rescue people stranded by floods on key India pilgrim route
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Reuters
3 days ago
- Reuters
India uses helicopters to rescue people stranded by floods on key pilgrim route
BHATWADI, India, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Indian rescuers used helicopters on Thursday to pluck to safety people stranded by flood waters in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand two days after a sudden inundation and landslide killed four people, while more than a dozen were still missing. With roads cleared as rain eased, rescue teams arrived in Dharali, where Tuesday's wall of water had submerged in sludge homes and cars in the village on the way to the Hindu pilgrim town of Gangotri. Helicopters were carrying to safety those who had been stranded, the state's chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, said in a post on X, adding, "The heli-rescue operation ... started in the affected areas this morning." Authorities said about 400 people stuck in Gangotri were being rescued by air, with nine army personnel and seven civilians among the missing. But communication links with rescuers and residents remain disrupted, as mobile telephone and electricity towers swept away by the floods have yet to be replaced, officials said. "We were stuck in the slush for about 20 minutes and were then rescued by the Indian army," said Amardeep Singh, an army contractor on a rescue mission when his team was hit by another flash flood in Harsil, the site of an army camp. Earlier, army rescuers used their hands, as well as machinery, to shift boulders from roads turned into muddy, gushing rivers, visuals showed. More than 225 army personnel were drafted into the rescue, its Northern Command said on X. "We saw Dharali falling before our eyes," said Anamika Mehra, a pilgrim headed for Gangotri when the flooding hit. The hamlet of about 200 people in the state's Uttarkashi district stands more than 1,150 m (3,775 ft) above sea level on the climb to the temple town. "We were very scared, but the locals helped us and the army reached the next day to rescue us," Mehra told news agency ANI. Uttarakhand is prone to floods and landslides, which some experts blame on climate change. In 2021, a flash flood swept away two hydroelectric projects to send water, rocks and debris into a valley, killing more than 200 in an event scientists said could have been unleashed by a large avalanche of glacier ice.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Reuters
Indian helicopters rescue people stranded by flooding in Himalayan state
BHATWADI, India, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Indian rescuers used helicopters on Thursday to pluck to safety people stranded by flood waters in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, nearly two days after a sudden inundation and landslides killed four, with dozens still missing. Roads crumpled or blocked by boulders kept rescue teams from reaching the village of Dharali in the state's district of Uttarkashi, a tourist spot, after a wall of water hit the area, submerging homes and cars in sludge. The helicopter rescuers were given instructions needed to ensure the operation was effective, the state's chief minister, Pushkar Singh Dhami, said. "The heli-rescue operation ... started in the affected areas this morning," he added in a post on X. Army rescuers used their hands, as well as machinery, to shift boulders from roads turned into muddy, gushing rivers, in visuals from the region. About 200 people had been rescued over Tuesday and Wednesday, army and state officials said, but many more were feared stranded and missing. Dharali, a hamlet of about 200 people that stands more than 1,150 m (3,775 ft) above sea level, is a pit-stop for Hindu pilgrims climbing to the temple town of Gangotri. "We saw Dharali falling before our eyes," said Anamika Mehra, a pilgrim headed for Gangotri when the flooding hit. "We were very scared, but the locals helped us and the army reached the next day to rescue us," she told news agency ANI. Uttarakhand is prone to floods and landslides, which some experts blame on climate change.
