Uttarakhand Rain: Pranmati River Swells, Waterlogging Hits Dehradun. More Showers Predicted

Uttarakhand Weather Update Today: Heavy rain continues to pound the hill state forcing the Pranmati River to overflow while massive waterlogging is reported from Dehradun.

Uttarakhand Rain: Incessant rainfall has led to massive flooding and landslides in the hill state of Uttarakhand which has been battling the monsoon mayhem for over a month now. Now, the Pranmati River in the Chamoli district has swelled due to heavy downpours creating problems in the ongoing rescue operations across the state. Earlier, a chopper was deployed to rescue pilgrims from the trek route to Madmaheshwar temple while many were shifted to safer locations.

Meanwhile, excessive water reached inside houses in Kaluwala in Dehradun due to heavy rains. SDRF personnel reached the spot immediately after receiving the information and are constantly trying to help the affected people, ANI reported citing SDRF Uttarakhand Police. SDRF personnel carried out rescue operations here on Thursday night.

The SDRF said that nine houses and seven gaushalas in Jakhan village were completely destroyed in the landslide that happened on Wednesday afternoon, in which 50 people from 16 families lived. It added there was no loss of life or loss of animals in the incident and that the animals trapped in the demolished house were safely rescued by the SDRF and handed over to the villagers.

Due to rain-triggered landslides, the road between Maithana and Pursadi on Shri Badrinath National Highway sank, as per Chamoli Police. Authorities have restricted vehicular movements at Ram Jhula bridge in Rishikesh after a supportive wire broke following heavy rainfall, reported ANI.

According to PTI, rescuers safely evacuated 243 pilgrims who were stranded since Monday on the trek route to Madmaheshwar temple in rain-hit Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district after a bridge collapsed here. 190 pilgrims were airlifted by a helicopter on Wednesday, while 53 were evacuated by SDRF on Tuesday through the rope river crossing method, the state disaster control room said.

The India Meteorology Department has predicted light to moderate, scattered to fairly widespread rainfall, thunderstorm and lightning with isolated heavy rainfall over Uttarakhand, East Uttar Pradesh from Aug 17- Aug 23. On the other hand, light to moderate isolated, scattered rainfall is likely over the rest parts of northwest India during the week.