Rain Fury Leaves 29 Dead in Himachal, 3 in Uttarakhand, Chardham Yatra Suspended

Shimla: At least 29 people were killed in Himachal Pradesh, nine of them buried under the rubble of a temple and after another landslip in Shimla, as rains wreaked havoc in the state, triggering landslides that blocked key roads and brought down houses, officials said on Monday.

Up to 15 more people are feared trapped under the debris of the Shiv temple in Shimla's Summer Hill area. The shrine was crowded with devotees, offering prayers on an important day of the Sawan period.

This was one of the two landslides reported from the state capital.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said nine bodies have been pulled out of the debris from a Shiv temple in the Summer Hill area that collapsed and the other site in the Fagli area where several houses were buried under mud and slush.

All schools and colleges in the state were closed on Monday. According to the state emergency operation centre, 752 roads were closed in the state because of the calamity.

In Solan district's Jadon village, seven members of a family were killed in a cloudburst on Sunday night.

Two houses in the district were washed away following the cloudburst. While six people were rescued, seven others were killed, a police official said.

The dead have been identified as Harnam (38), Kamal Kishore (35), Hemlata (34), Rahul (14), Neha (12), Golu (8) and Raksha (12), Superintendent of Police, Solan, Gaurav Singh said.

In Balera panchayat of the district, two children died as their makeshift house collapsed in a landslide and the body of one of them has been recovered. Another woman died in a landslide in Banal village of Ramsheher tehsil, said Deputy Commissioner of Solan Manmohan Sharma.

"Distressing news has emerged from Shimla, where the Shiv Mandir at Summer Hill collapsed as a result of the heavy rainfall. As of now, nine bodies have been retrieved. The local administration is diligently working to clear the debris in order to rescue individuals who may still be trapped. Om Shanti," he posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Deputy Commissioner of Shimla Aditya Negi told PTI that many people were feared buried in the two landslides in Summer Hill and Fagli areas. Rescue operations are going on in full swing, the official said.

In Hamirpur, Deputy Commissioner Hemraj Bairwa said that three persons have died due to incessant rains in the district while two are missing. He appealed to all the residents of the district to take special precautions in view of the calamity.

One person was swept away by the flood waters while two others were rescued on Sunday night. In another incident, an elderly woman was buried alive while her son was rescued after their house collapsed due to rains, the official said.

Rangas area of the district, a woman was killed in a landslide, he said.

Seven members of a family, including a two-year-old, were killed in a landslide late on Sunday night in the Seghli panchayat of Mandi district. Three persons were rescued, Deputy Commissioner Arindam Chaudhary said.

Heavy rains battered Himachal Pradesh since Sunday, triggering landslides that blocked several roads, including the key Shimla-Chandigarh road. In total 752 roads are blocked in the state as per the state emergency operation centre.

Kangra received 273 mm of rain since Sunday evening followed by Dharamshala 250 mm, Sundernagar 168 mm, Mandi 140 mm, Jubbarhatti 132 mm, Shimla 126 mm, Berthin 120  mm, Dhaulakaun 111 mm and Nahan 107 mm. 

The weather department has issued a yellow warning for heavy rains on Tuesday and predicted a wet spell in the state till August 18.

Uttarakhand: Pvt defence training academy collapses

Dehradun: Torrential rains ravaged Uttarakhand on Monday, destroying buildings and causing landslides which breached the national highways to Badrinath, Kedarnath and Gangotri shrines and left three people dead and five others missing.

A private defence training academy on the outskirts of Dehradun also collapsed amid the incessant rains.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami held a meeting with senior officials to review the rain situation in the state and it was decided to suspend the Chardham yatra for two days.

Rudraprayag district disaster management officer Nandan Singh Rajwar said a landslide hit a camp at Lincholi near Kedarnath, killing one person identified as 26-year-old Kalu Bahadur from Nepal.

Two bodies were also recovered from rain-fed streams near Shiv Mandir and Miranagar areas in Rishikesh. One of them has been identified as 35-year-old Dinesh Panwar, a resident of Amit Gram. The other body is being identified, an official at AIIMS, Rishikesh where the bodies have been kept said.

Four-five people were missing after a landslide in Laxmanjhula area of Pauri district.

Heavy rains triggered the landslide whose debris fell on a resort in the area trapping four-five people under it, Senior Superintendent of Police, Pauri, Shweta Choubey told PTI over phone.

Rescue and relief teams have reached the spot and a search operation has been started, she said.  

Located on the banks of Song river near Lalpul, the building of the Dehradun Defence Academy caved in on Monday morning, Tehri Sub Divisional Magistrate Ashish Ghildiyal said.

No one was injured as the building had been vacated in advance, he said.

It is a private institution whose building was constructed 15 years ago, former Zilla panchayat member Akhilesh Uniyal said.

Most of the rivers were overflowing due to the rain with the Ganga flowing above the danger mark in Tehri, Haridwar and Rishikesh.

Alaknanda, Mandakini and Ganga rivers were flowing above the danger level at Rudraprayag, Shrinagar and Devprayag, the disaster control room here said.

The Badrinath National highway is blocked at a number of places due to landslide debris. There is also information about one person being buried under the debris near Pipalkoti.

In Chamoli district, a flood-like situation has developed along the banks of a dozen rivers, including Alaknanda and its tributaries Pindar, Nandakini and Birhi.        

Pindar's tributary Pranmati was also flooded due to landslide. Landslides in the upper reaches of Nandakini have caused the water level of the river to increase in the lower areas.

There are reports of loss of lives due to landslides in Pipalkoti town and surrounding areas on Badrinath National Highway.

The Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for rain for Monday in six districts of Uttarakhand, including Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri, Udham Singh Nagar, Nainital and Champawat and issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rain in Haridwar.