Chamoli, Feb 8: Nineteen people were confirmed dead on Monday after the Nandadevi glacier broke in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district on February 7, washing away houses near the Dhauliganga river, officials said.
"About 202 people have been reported missing so far in yesterday's incident while 19 bodies have been recovered from different places," Uttarakhand Police tweeted.
कल के हादसे में अभी तक लगभग 202 लोगों के लापता होने की सूचना है, वहीं 19 के शव अलग अलग स्थानों से बरामद किए गए है। शोक और दुःख की इस घड़ी में प्रशासन आपके साथ है, कृपया सहयोग बनाए रखें। राहत-बचाव कार्य त्वरित रूप से जारी है। @Ashokkumarips pic.twitter.com/jOVa65M175
— Uttarakhand Police (@uttarakhandcops) February 8, 2021
At least 202 others were still missing after the massive flash flood triggered by a glacial outburst devastated part of the state, with raging floodwaters even washing away two hydropower stations, officials said.
"If this incident happened in the evening, after work hours, the situation wouldn't have been this bad as labourers and workers in and around the work sites would have been at home," CM Rawat told reporters.
With the main road washed away, paramilitary rescuers had to climb down a hillside on ropes to reach the entrance.
Several hundred rescue workers resumed their search operation at first light on Monday including national and state disaster response teams, the army and navy diving teams.
Officials said two dams had been emptied to stop the floodwaters from reaching the holy towns of Rishikesh and Haridwar where authorities barred people from going near the river.
Villages on hillsides overlooking the river were evacuated, but as night fell authorities said the main flood danger had passed.
Floods in 2013 in Uttarakhand, which borders Tibet and Nepal, killed 6,000 people and led to calls for a review of development projects in the state.
Vimlendhu Jha, founder of Swechha, an environmental NGO, said the disaster was a "grim reminder" of the effects of climate change and the "haphazard development of roads, railways and power plants in ecologically sensitive areas."
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