Cloudburst toll rises to 14 in Uttarakhand

Dehradun, July 2: With the recovery of two more bodies, the death toll in the heavy rains in Uttarakhand rose to 14 on Saturday, while about 10 rivers and rivulets were in spate across the state and traffic was disrupted on several routes due to landslides, reports PTI. Fifteen people are still missing after the cloudbursts on Friday morning in Pithoragarh and Chamoli districts and it is feared that the toll may rise. The MeT department in Dehradun has warned of heavy rains in isolated places in the state. P3 ■

WITH the recovery of two more bodies, the death toll in the heavy rains in Uttarakhand rose to 14 on Saturday while about ten rivers and rivulets were in spate across the state and traffic disrupted on several routes due to landslides.

Fifteen people are still missing after the cloudbursts on Friday morning in Pithoragarh and Chamoli districts and it is feared that the toll may rise. The MeT department in Dehradun has warned of heavy rain sin isolated places in the state especially Na in ital, Ud ham singh Nagar and Champawat districts and the next 48 hours are going to be crucial for Uttarakhand, which was devastated by flash floods that left 6,000 people dead three years ago. “While nine bodies were recovered from Pithoragarh district by late Friday night, two more were pulled out from the debris this morning,” additional secretary C Ravishankar told PTI. Three bodies were recovered earlier in Chamoli. Six persons are still missing and the chances of their survival are bleak, he said. The six were buried in the debris which flowed down the hills destroying many houses on Friday.

PTI Damaged houses after a cloudburst hit Singhali area near Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand on Friday