At least nine people have lost their lives in separate rain-related incidents in parts of Uttarakhand over the period of the past 24. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami took stock of the situation on Wednesday and directed all district magistrates to stay alert. One person is reported to be missing in the incidents that injured around half a dozen people. Amidst relentless rainfall at the Gaurikund base camp of Kedarnath Yatra, two siblings lost their lives, and another sustained injuries while their house was hit by debris after a landslide in the wee hours of Wednesday. This was the second landslide that occurred in Gaurikund in the past five days, news agency PTI reported.
Officials while talking to PTI said that five people were killed and many were injured in two separate road accidents in the past 24 hours in the Pauri district. Out of the five, four people including a father-son duo lost their lives when their car fell into a deep gorge on Tuesday night at Gumkhal. State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) rushed to the spot following the accident and launched a rescue operation, said SDRF official Praveen Rathi, who led the rescue operation. He added that the deceased were identified as Chandramohan Singh Bisht (62), his son Atul Bisht (35), and two others – Dinesh Singh (63) and Kamal Bisht (45).
In a similar accident near Mundaneshwar in Kaljikhal block of the district, one woman lost her life and five others got injured when their car fell into a deep gorge at 2 pm on Wednesday, said Pauri's disaster control room.
A woman travelling in a bus on Wednesday died and one got injured when a rock fell over the vehicle on the Rishikesh-Yamunotri National Highway at around 8 am. According to PTI, the vehicle was coming from Jankichatti to Barkot.
Meanwhile, CM Dhami reportedly spoke to the District Magistrates (DMs) of Rudraprayag, Pauri, Nainital, and Udham Singh Nagar via telephone and asked them to make arrangements to manage situations arising in view of heavy rain predictions. The chief minister has asked all departments to keep coordinating among themselves so that whenever the need comes then rapid action can be taken in case another disaster occurs.