Rain Fury: 2,500 Tourists Stuck In Uttarakhand, CM Vows Swift Restoration Of Essential Services

Around 2,500 tourists were stranded in Uttarakhand's Mussoorie on Wednesday as the road from Dehradun to the popular hill station remained closed for the second consecutive day following cloudbursts and heavy rain in the capital.

Meanwhile, Delhi witnessed a cloudy sky on Wednesday, with parts of the city receiving showers. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a yellow alert, advising that the situation be monitored and updated in line with its colour-coded guidelines.

Heavy showers ravaged the Himalayan states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, already bruised by a string of deadly natural calamities over the past couple of months, on Tuesday.

The cloudbursts and heavy rains left 15 people dead, 16 missing, and more than 900 stranded in Uttarakhand, while in Himachal Pradesh, three members of a family were killed as rains triggered massive landslides and flash floods.

As rehabilitation work picked up pace on Wednesday, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that focus was on the swift restoration of essential services, while his Himachal Pradesh counterpart Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said people still residing in unsafe buildings would be relocated to secure places to ensure their safety.

The cloudbursts and heavy rains in Dehradun on Tuesday severely damaged the route to Mussoorie. It was breached at several points, prompting police to appeal to tourists and visitors to stay wherever they were -- whether in hotels, homes or homestays -- till the road was restored.

According to officials, the number of stranded tourists was much higher on Tuesday, but several of them have left Mussoorie via Vikasnagar, a longer route blocked by landslides that was opened for traffic on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, an alternative Bailey bridge is being erected at Kolhukhet, and it is likely to become operational for light vehicles by Wednesday night, a senior official said.

"Debris has been partially cleared from two points along the route, but installation of an alternative bridge at Kolhukhet may take a little more time," a police officer in Mussoorie said.

IAS officer Rahul Anand, who is supervising the installation of the bridge, told PTI on Wednesday evening that the work "will be completed in a couple of hours."

"We will then open the route for light vehicles. It will also help transport heavy machines like JCBs for clearing the rubble accumulated on the road beyond Kolhukhet," he said.

The distance between Dehradun and Mussoorie by the usual route, which is broken at places, is just 35 km, while it is around 80 km by the alternative route via Vikasnagar.

In view of the inconvenience to tourists who were forced to overstay, the Mussoorie Hotel Owners' Association, as a goodwill gesture, extended a complimentary stay facility to them for a night on Tuesday, another official said.

Chief Minister Dhami stressed that his government was prioritising restoring road and power connectivity and repairing damaged infrastructure, as rehabilitation work picked up pace a day after rains ravaged the state.

"Our effort is to repair the damaged infrastructure and restore road and power connectivity at the earliest," Dhami said while highlighting that 85 per cent of the damaged power lines have been restored and the rest will also be done in a day or two.

"I have spoken to the BRO DG. The Narendra Nagar-Tehri road will also be repaired soon," Dhami said while pointing out that about 1,000 stranded people have been rescued.

More than 10 roads and bridges were damaged in the calamity, at least five of them very badly, in which entire stretches were washed out, Disaster Management Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said.

Areas that suffered maximum damage included Sahastradhara, Premnagar, Mussoorie, Narendra Nagar, Pauri, Pithoragarh and Nainital.

Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhu said people's safety remains the top priority of his government, and those still residing in unsafe buildings must be relocated to secure places.

"Under the Special Relief Package, the state government is providing Rs 10,000 and Rs 5,000 as rent in urban and rural areas for those rendered homeless during the disaster,' he said in a statement issued here.

The chief minister chaired a high-level meeting here to assess the damage caused by the torrential rains and review the situation across the state in the last 48 hours.

He said so far in September, the state has witnessed 136% excess rainfall. He added that 45% additional rainfall was recorded during the entire monsoon season so far.

During the last two days, five persons lost their lives, three in Nihari and two near Pandoh Mohal Suma in the Mandi district, while two persons were missing, an official statement said.

Officials were told to restore road connectivity, particularly in apple-growing areas, electricity, water supply and other essential supplies in the affected areas on priority.

Sukhu said the monsoon season has claimed 417 lives, with 45 still missing, and a loss of Rs 4,582 crore has been recorded due to the heavy rains, cloudbursts and landslides, it said.

Officials said monsoon fury in the state has rendered more than 1,500 families homeless since its onset on June 20. The Himalayan state witnessed 46 cloudbursts, 98 flash floods and 145 major landslides.

The Met office in Rajasthan has forecast light to moderate rain in some eastern parts of the state over the next three to four days, though the weather is expected to remain dry at other places.