Cloudburst Triggers Flash Floods In Ladakh, Delhi Stares At Another Deluge After Heavy Rain Lashes Upper Reaches — Top Points

In Shimla, three persons were feared dead after their dhaba was swept away in flash flood. A rise in discharge from Hathnikund Barrage is expected to increase Yamuna level in Delhi, experts said.

Beas river flows in spate after heavy monsoon rainfall, in Kullu district.

Source : PTI

New Delhi: A cloudburst on Saturday led to flash floods in Ladakh, throwing life out of gear, as several parts in Leh were inundated and debris entered many buildings in the low-lying areas. However, no casualty was reported, according to news agency PTI. Meanwhile, around 110 people stranded in flood-hit Mahagaon tehsil of eastern Maharashtra's Yavatmal were rescued after incessant rain battered the district. According to PTI, Mahagaon tehsil recorded 231 mm of rainfall from midnight till Saturday morning, while the district recorded 117.5 mm showers.

In Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla, three persons were feared dead after their dhaba was swept away in a flash flood earlier in the day, PTI reported. Several houses were damaged and a one-metre deep crack developed along the Bazaar Road at Khaltu Nullah in Kotkhai tehsil, Shimla Deputy Commissioner Aditya Negi told PTI.

Here are the key updates:

• The cloudburst in Ladakh hit the Gangles area and according to police, rescue and rehabilitation work was underway in Leh, especially in Khakshal, Sanker, Skampari, Chhubi, Zangsti and the main market Gonpa Soma areas. An event of the Dalai Lama in Leh had to be postponed due to the flash floods.
• Ladakh Police urged the public, civil societies and volunteers to help them in the rescue efforts so that normal life and traffic regulations could be resumed at the earliest.
• Heavy to very heavy rains lashed several districts in south Gujarat and Saurashtra regions on Saturday, triggering a flood-like situation in urban areas and the villages, PTI reported. Navsari and Junagadh were the worst-hit due to the torrential showers that led to a deluge in several residential pockets and marketplaces. Rescue teams were brought in to shift the people living in low-lying areas to safer locations.
• In Maharashtra’s Yavatmal, apart from SDRF, an Mi-17 V5 chopper of the Indian Air Force was called into service for the rescue operation at Anandnagar Tanda village, district collector Amol Yedge told PTI.
• Reviewing the flood situation in Thane, minister Shamburaj Desai directed the police to step up night patrolling in the district. Desai further said that the district administration has evacuated more than 1,200 people and provided accommodation for them, PTI reported.
• In Uttarakhand, as many as 40 passengers had a narrow escape when the bus they were travelling in got stuck in the swirling waters of overflowing Kotawali river that flooded a causeway on the road to Haridwar, PTI reported.
• JCB machines were pressed into the rescue operations and no casualty was reported. The bus was also pulled out, Najibabad police Circle Officer (CO) Gajendra Singh said, PTI reported.
• Many areas of Himachal Pradesh received heavy downpour in the last 24 hours, with Sirmaur receiving 195 mm of rainfall, IMD said. The weather office also issued an orange alert for Chamba, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur and Bilaspur districts, news agency ANI reported.
• Meanwhile, a rise in water discharge from Hathnikund Barrage into the Yamuna after heavy rain in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh is expected to increase the water level of the river in Delhi again, officials told PTI. The Yamuna water level, which was hovering around the danger mark of 205.33 metres for the last few days, dropped below the threshold on Saturday.
• "Discharge from Hathnikund Barrage remained above 2 lakh cusecs mark for seven hours after overnight rain in upper catchment areas of the Yamuna, with peak discharge being 2,51,987 cusecs recorded at 2 pm. This significant volume of water is expected to reach Delhi within 36 hours, posing a risk of mid-scale floods in the capital, which is still recuperating from one of the worst flood spells it experienced in the second week of July. The second spell of floods will likely see the Yamuna river reclaiming most of its floodplain in Delhi,” PTI quoted officials as saying.