U’khand floods: At least 26 dead, 171 still missing

DEHRADUN/JOSHIMATH: Rescue workers dug through a mountain of mud and slush on Monday to free people trapped under debris of devastating flash floods in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli as the toll of the worst disaster to hit the Himalayan region in eight years climbed to 26, with 171 still missing.

At least 1,000 disaster response, military and paramilitary personnel worked to clear a 1.7-km tunnel in the badly hit hydroelectric power project of Tapovan, where at least 35 people are still stranded in waistdeep muck. The surging waters washed away homes, damaged two major dams, cut off 13 villages, and snapped crucial road links and bridges that connect far-flung areas in the mountainous region.

“The rescue workers have recovered total 26 bodies with about 171 still missing, which includes 11 villagers and two cops, while remaining ones are workers from the two dam sites,” said state director general of police Ashok Kumar, who is monitoring the rescue operation.

The disaster is the worst to hit the state since the 2013 Kedarnath floods killed 5,700 people and highlighted the impact of the climate crisis and degradation of the fragile ecology.

It struck at 9.30am on Sunday when a glacier breach under the Nanda Devi, the country’s second-highest peak, sent a torrent of water, rock and dust down a valley into the Rishiganga river, where workers were building a dam. Visuals showed the muddy floodwaters smashing most of the plant and inundating bridges before roaring downstream into the Dhauliganga and partially damaging the National Thermal Power Corporation’s 530 MW Tapovan Vishnugrad project, roughly 8 km away.

Manish Kumar, a worker in Tapovan, was standing outside the tunnel that would later trap most of his colleagues, but sprinted up a hill when he noticed a dense plume of smoke and rumbling waters. “Those who turned around to see were washed away,” he said on Monday. The tragedy left columns of slush and debris in its wake, strewn across at least 30km downstream, where authorities had to airdrop ration packets to stranded villagers.

“There was a very loud and scary noise. I turned around to see water and debris gushing towards us. It was as if the mountains were crumbling,” said Godambari Devi, a resident of Raini village who was tending to her apple trees when the tragedy struck. Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, Union power minister RK Sinha, Union education minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, and other senior politicians visited the site.

“The rescue work is going on at all possible speed. We will leave no stone unturned to help the needy ones with the Centre also assuring all the help needed,” said Rawat.

In Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met a delegation of state MPs and assured them that the Centre was working to strengthen infrastructure there to deal with any natural disaster in the future.

According to BJP MP Anil Baluni, a Rajya Sabha member from the state, Modi said the central government stood with Uttarkhand’s people and was monitoring ongoing rescue operations. Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP president JP Nadda were present at the meeting.

At Dehradun, Sinha said Tapovan suffered a loss of about ₹1,500 crore but ruled out the possibility of scrapping the project. “It (NTPC Tapovan project) was supposed to be commissioned by 2023 but now it is obvious that the target year would be pushed ahead. However, we have no intention to scrap the project,” said Sinha.