Incessant rain killed at least six people and threw life out of gear in the last 48 hours in Uttarakhand and forced the government to stop the Kedarnath pilgrimage temporarily.
The situation could worsen with the Met department on Wednesday predicting heavy to very heavy rain in next 24 hours.
All the major rivers in the state including Ganga are flowing close to the danger mark.
The Dehradun–New Delhi national highway has been blocked near Dehradun.
According to Piyoosh Rautela, executive director, Disaster Mitigation and Management Centre (DMMC), three people were killed near Mussoorie, one body was found in Dehradun’s Rispana river while two labourers were killed in Tehri and Pithoragarh district.
In Haridwar district administration has sounded an alert and asked teams to be ready to tackle rain related issues. The Ganga was flowing at 292.45 meters this morning. In Nainital district several roads are blocked due to landslide. Nainital town received 218 mm of rain since Tuesday. The situation is no better in other hill districts.
Ruddraprayag district magistrate Mangesh Ghildiyal said that Kedarnath pilgrims have been asked to stay put at places like Sonprayag and Gaurikund to avoid possible landslides at vulnerable places along the treacherous mountain route.
So far, around 3.74 lakh pilgrims have visited Kedarnath – one of the four holy shrines that form the Char Dham Yatra pilgrimage circuit of Uttarakhand.
Meanwhile traffic came to standstill after Dehradun-Delhi national highway blocked near a tunnel, which is located on the border of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, after continuous downpour brought debris from the hills to the road. According to the Dehradun district control room, officials of the National Highway division (Roorkee) were informed about the blockage and were directed to begin work on restoring the crucial road link immediately.
The administration was also working on opening ten other roads in Dehradun district which were blocked after heavy rain. Acute waterlogging was reported from many areas of Dehradun including Sarswati Vihar, Kathbangla and Mohakampum among others.
Landslides were reported from hilly areas of the district including Chakrata and Mussoorie.
People living along local rivers Rispana and Bindal have been asked to remain alert and shift to safer areas in view of possibility of flooding.
There were also reports of agricultural and village land being washed away by overflowing streams from areas like Ghorimaafi, Sahabnagar, Rishikesh and some villages in Chakrata tehsil.