Record rains cause massive devastation, floods in North India

New Delhi: Major cities in north India witnessed loss of life, disruption of transport and power as heavy rains lashed Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and parts of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, causing waterlogging, flash floods and landslides. In the last 48 hours, 20 major landslides and 17 flash floods have been reported in Himachal Pradesh, more than 30 houses have been completely and partially damaged. Officials said all major rivers including Ravi, Beas, Sutlej, Swan and Chenab are in spate. Devastating visuals of shops and vehicles being washed away in Himachal Pradesh due to a swollen river caused by incessant rains emerged on social media.

Vehicles were washed away in flash floods in the nullahs of Kullu, Kinnaur and Chamba. In Mandi district, several bridges including Aut Pul, Pandoh Pul and the historic Panchvaktra Pul were washed away in the spate of Beas river. Taking cognizance of the incident, former state Chief Minister Jairam Thakur said that the washed away bridge was the “identity of Himachal”. Earlier in the day, three people of a family were killed while two others were injured when a house collapsed due to heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh’s Shimla on Sunday, police said.

Officials said that the incident took place in Kotgarh village of Shimla on Sunday morning. After the rescue operation, the victims were pulled out from the debris and taken to a nearby hospital where doctors declared them brought dead. Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi said, “The deceased have been identified as Anil, Kiran and Swapnil and their bodies have been sent for post-mortem. We are further probing the incident.” As per the data available with the State Disaster Management, over 776 roads including 3 National Highways are closed in the hill state.

According to the data, “A total of six people died during the last 24 hours, 3 are missing, while 281 people are stranded at different places but are safe.” According to the state government, 54 people have died, 92 have been injured, 46 houses have been damaged and 108 have been partially damaged in the state so far in 16 days. Notably, during the last 24 hours, light to moderate rainfall occurred at most places in the state and extremely heavy rainfall occurred over Una, Bilaspur districts.

All schools and colleges will also remain closed in view of heavy rains in the state on Monday and Tuesday. Besides this, train services on the Shimla-Kalka route were also suspended on Sunday due to incessant heavy rains and inclement weather. Station Superintendent of Shimla Railway Station, Joginder Singh told ANI that landslides triggered by heavy rains have damaged railway tracks at several places between Shimla and Kalka, leading to suspension of train operations.

“Yesterday, two trains including a passenger train were canceled for today. In the morning we came to know that the weather forecast is very bad like last few days, and yesterday also it rained overnight, causing rain at many places between Kalka- Landslide happened.” “Shimla route, and trees are getting uprooted. So we have decided to suspend all train services on the Shimla-Kalka route,” the official said.

According to the Meteorological Centre, Shimla, moderate to heavy rain with thundershowers at most places and very heavy rainfall at isolated places very likely to continue over Shimla, Solan, Kinnaur, Sirmaur, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Bilaspur and Hamirpur districts Is. , According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), extremely heavy rainfall is also likely at isolated places over Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and adjoining districts of Punjab, Haryana-Chandigarh on Sunday.

In addition, in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir, National Highway 44 suffered unprecedented damage, especially the portion falling in Ramban district, forcing it to be closed for traffic. A shed set up as a langar (community kitchen) for Amarnath pilgrims was also washed away in the swollen Chenab river at Ramban yesterday.

Meanwhile, the water level of Jhelum river rose due to heavy rains in Jammu and Kashmir, causing panic among the local people living on the banks and other nearby areas. The Srinagar Meteorological Center on Saturday predicted flash floods, landslides and landslides for the next two days. The Meteorological Department has also advised the local people to avoid vulnerable structures and waterlogged areas.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday said that moderate rain is likely to occur in different parts of Haryana in the next two to three hours. In a bulletin, the IMD said, “Moderate rain is likely in parts of Gharaunda, Karnal, Indri, Radaur, Panipat, Nilokhedi, Thanesar, Pehowa, Shahabad, Ambala, Kalka, Barara, Jagadhri, Chhachhrauli, Narayangarh, Panchkula.” ” Apart from this, rain is likely in parts of Bhiwani, Tosham, Sampla, Rohtak, Bawani Kheda, Hansi, Hisar, Adampur, Narnaund, Fatehabad, Kharkhoda, Sonipat, Gannaur, Samalkha, Bapauli, Gharaunda, Karnal, Meham. Gohana, Julana, Israna, Safidon, Jind, Panipat, Assandh, Kaithal, Nilokhedi, Narwana, Tohana, Kalayat, Ratia, Thanesar, Guhla, Pehova, Ambala,” it added.

In the national capital, Shahdara district police on Sunday visited Yamuna floodplains and alerted the residents about the rising water level. The police also urged the local residents to move to safer places amid rising Yamuna water level. “We are here to inform all of you that the level of Yamuna has risen due to heavy rains,” a police officer told residents living on the banks of the Yamuna. You are all requested to vacate the area and move to a safer place Is.” Meanwhile, amid heavy rains in north India, the Delhi government on Sunday issued a flood alert as the Haryana government released over one lakh cusecs of water from the Hathinikund barrage in Yamunanagar into the Yamuna river. Record rains over the past few days have caused heavy damage in the national capital, with 15 house collapses, in which two people died and seven were injured, an official said on Sunday. Speaking to ANI on Sunday, Delhi Fire Service Director Atul Garg confirmed that over 15 calls related to house collapse incidents have been received in the last few days. He further informed that in many of these incidents, fire brigade personnel had difficulty in reaching the spot due to heavy and widespread waterlogging.

Incessant and heavy rains on Sunday morning led to massive water-logging in Rajasthan’s Sikar, throwing normal life out of gear. Large parts of Morabad city were submerged in water due to incessant rains since Saturday morning and many residents complained of traffic problems. A student died after falling into an open sewerage tank near Nawalgarh road in Sikar district amid heavy rains on Saturday evening, a Civil Defense Dal (CD) official said. He said that after getting information about the incident, the civil defense rescue team reached the spot and recovered the body of the student.

Due to incessant rains for the last two days, there has been water-logging in Derabassi assembly constituency of Mohali district. In Derabassi, a flood-like situation was witnessed in the areas along the banks of the Ghaggar river. Gulmohar City Extension of Derabassi was flooded by 12 to 15 feet, after which people living in buildings were trapped after which NDRF team reached for rescue. DC Mohali, MLA Kuljit Randhawa and NDRF team also reached the spot.

Earlier yesterday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah spoke to Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and took an update on the suspension of Amarnath Yatra due to heavy rains. Shah spoke to Sinha over telephone earlier in the day as the annual Amarnath Yatra was temporarily suspended on both the routes – Baltal (Ganderbal district) and Nunwan (Pahalgam district) due to inclement weather conditions, which led to 270 pilgrims. There were several landslides along the km long route. Long Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Ramban district two days ago.