U’khand flood toll at 34; 24 more rescued in Jammu

Dehradun/Jammu: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the local police on Sunday searched the remains of flattened homes for more bodies in rain-hit Uttarakhand where the toll due to relentless downpour reached 34. 

    "In Uttarakashi alone, 31 people have been killed and six are still missing following heavy rains," district magistrate R Rajesh Kumar said. Twenty three workers of the state-run UJVN Ltd's Assi Ganga hydel project, missing following a cloud burst in the upper hills of Uttarkashi district, have been declared dead. "We are now counting these 23 workers in the list of dead people," said Kumar. 
    In the past two days, incessant rains battered the hill state resulting in landslides, cloud bursts and flash floods which flattened homes and stranded hundreds of pilgrims with the Char Dham yatra coming to a halt. 
    The Garhwal region was the worst-hit by the natural disaster. Three people were killed in Chamoli district following heavy rains since Saturday. The government has started relief and rescue operations and has sent food packets to the affected regions. Around 250 families have been moved to safer areas in different parts of Uttarkashi and Chamoli districts. Twenty four people trapped in flash floods were rescued safely by the police, army and the locals in Samba, Kathua and Jammu districts. 
    With the rescue of the 24 people on Sunday, a total of 46 people have been rescued since Saturday, officials said. An alert has been sounded in Jammu, where overnight rains resulted in the flooding of rivers on Saturday. 
    "The rescue operations in the affected areas were carried out under the supervision of divisional commissioner Jammu Pardeep Gupta," sources said.