Girl washed away in flash flood

DAINIK NATION BUREAU

A girl was washed away in a flash flood while two children were rescued in Uttarkashi and a school was damaged in Pithoragarh district due to heavy rain on Friday evening.

The District Mitigation and Management Centre (DMCC) said the children were washed away in a flash flood in Gangtadi village falling under Barkot Tehsil of Uttarkashi. Two children were rescued while the third, a 12-year-girl, could not be traced by the police. The SDRF and the Revenue Police have been deployed in the affected areas.

Earlier, there were reports of cloudburst having occurred in Pauri, Tehri and Uttarkashi district but Chief Minister TS Rawat discounted these reports. “No incident of cloudburst occurred in the state, officials in the districts are still gathering information pertaining to the damage due to heavy rain. I have directed all officials and other state machinery to remain on alert,” he said, while on a visit to the State Emergency Operation Centre.

Four animals were killed in a hailstorm at Bumuch village in Chakisain tehsil of Pauri district. On Friday, Pauri received 28 mm of rain, while Dehradun received 40 mm. As per the reports in Bageshwar district, the boundary wall of an inter college was extensively damaged while rubble damaged the fields. In Tehri, houses located in the low-lying areas were flooded due to overflowing drains.

Dehradun too witnessed heavy rain and high velocity winds, causing road blocks at several locations across the city. Like other regions, here too water overflowed on the roads disrupting traffic. Due to high velocity winds, trees and electricity poles were uprooted disrupting power supply in the city. It took several hours for the Electricity Department to restore the power supply.

The MeT Department has forecast squalls with speed up to 70 to 80 kmph at isolated places in Uttarakhand for Sunday.