Rain-Battered North India Counts Its Losses, Rescue Efforts Gather Pace

Rainfall activity ebbed in north India on Tuesday after three days of onslaught, revealing the extent of death and destruction as authorities reported at least 20 more fatalities and ramped up relief and rescue efforts.

The death toll mounted to 31 in Himachal Pradesh, which had reported 18 deaths till Monday, while neighbouring Uttarakhand witnessed five fatalities. Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan reported one death each in rain-related incidents.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu conducted an aerial survey of the Kasol, Manikaran, Kheer Ganga and Pulga areas. In Kull's Sainj area alone, around 40 shops and 30 houses were washed away, he said, as he interacted with people in a relied camp in Kullu and shared a meal with them.

He said seven people were airlifted from the tourist spot Chandertal in Lahaul and Spiti. Two of them have been admitted to a hospital. Tourists stranded in Manali would be evacuated by Tuesday night as the Kullu-Manali road has been partially restored and mobile connectivity was also back in Manali after a day, the CM said.

He said tourists stuck in any part of the state including Chandertal and Sissu in Lahaul and Spiti would be evacuated by Wednesday.

Officiating Director General of Police Satwant Atwal said 31 people have died in the recent rains in the past three days. He said 250 tourists are stranded in Chandertal and 300 in Sissu in the Lahaul and Spiti district and 300 in parts of Mandi district.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath instructed officials to coordinate with the Himachal Pradesh government to make all necessary arrangements for a safe return of people from UP who are stranded there.

Many areas in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan recorded "heavy to extremely heavy" precipitation over the past three days.

This flooded rivers, creeks and drains that massively damaged infrastructure and disrupted essential services in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab.

In the national capital, the Yamuna river has exceeded the danger mark of 206 metres, prompting the relocation of people residing in flood-prone areas to safer locations and a closure of the Old Railway Bridge for road and rail traffic.

The river crossed the danger mark of 205.33 metres in Delhi on Monday evening, much earlier than anticipated. According to the Central Water Commission (CWC), the water level at the Old Railway Bridge rose from 205.4 metres at 5 pm on Monday to 206.38 metres at 12 noon on Tuesday with Haryana releasing more water into the Yamuna from the Hathnikund barrage in Yamunanagar.

In Uttarakhand, five pilgrims from Madhya Pradesh died and seven more were injured when a landslide buried three vehicles near the Gangnani bridge on the Gangotri National Highway in Uttarkashi district on Monday night.

Three of the four bodies have been recovered and efforts are underway to pull out the fourth from the rubble, an official said, adding that two of the seven people injured are in serious condition.

Floods in the Jummagad river in Chamoli district on Monday night washed away a bridge built on it, blocking the Indo-Tibetan border road and snapping contact with over a dozen border villages. The bridge was located near Jumma village on the Joshimath-Niti highway, about 45 km from Joshimath.

In Himachal Pradesh, two teams have been deputed for road restoration -- one from the Losar side and the other from Kaza. The team comprises members of the administration, Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Border Roads Organisation (BRO), police and local villagers, they said.

The officials said since the onset of the monsoon on June 24, Himachal has suffered a loss of Rs 780 crore and the figure is expected to go up as excessive damage has been caused to roads, bridges and water supply schemes.

The rains have stopped since Monday evening and the rescue operations and road restoration work have gained pace.

In Punjab and Haryana, the weather cleared on Tuesday after three days of incessant downpour, which left behind a trail of destruction in several parts of the state.

Officials said relief shelters have been set up in the affected districts in the two states, including Rupnagar, Patiala, Mohali, Ambala and Panchkula.

In Punjab's Hoshiarpur, a 75-year-old man died after the roof of his mud house collapsed due to heavy rains on the intervening night of July 9 and 10. In Sultanpur Lodhi, a 24-year-old man is feared to have drowned in the floodwaters of the Sutlej river near Shahkot while trying to hold on to his motorcycle in the flooded Chitti rivulet.

A total of 730 girl students of a residential school in Haryana's Ambala City were shifted to Kurukshetra after floodwaters entered their hostel complex following a breach in the Ghaggar river on Monday night.

Since the level of the Yamuna river at the state's Hathini Kund Barrage was rising constantly, people in adjacent low-lying areas have been asked to stay away from the riverbank, officials said.

At 9 am on Tuesday, around 3.21 lakh cusecs of water was discharged from the barrage, the officials said. This is reportedly the highest quantity of water released from the barrage this year.

Many villages of Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat and Sonepat districts, and those adjoining the Yamuna river have been put on alert.

There has been a breakdown in the power and water supplies in some of the worst-affected areas of Punjab and Haryana but authorities were working to restore them.

In Haryana, several key highways, including the Ambala-Ludhiana national highway, have been temporarily closed for vehicular traffic due to waterlogging.

In Uttar Pradesh's Gautam Buddh Nagar district, a 42-year-old man died while his wife and son were injured when their single-storey house collapsed following incessant rainfall around midnight.

Heavy to very heavy rainfall was recorded in isolated parts of Rajasthan as well where a 35-year-old man drowned in the swollen Karmvachhni river in Pratapgarh district on Monday night.

- With PTI Input