Heavy rainfall, landslides disrupt normal life in Uttarakhand

Chamoli/Pithoragarh/Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], Aug 13 (ANI): Heavy rains in several parts of Uttarakhand have disrupted the normal life of people as water levels of the rivers have increased and landslides have occurred on a regular basis.
India Meteorological Department (IMD) has warned for heavy to very heavy rainfall and moderate to severe thunderstorm accompanied by lightning at isolated places over the state in the next two days.
In Chamoli, the intermittent rains have put the lives of locals in danger as Badrinath highway has been closed due to debris falling from the mountains. This has created hassles for locals to reach their destination.
Alaknanda, Pinder, Nandakini rivers are flowing only some centimetres below the danger mark due to incessant rainfall in the district.
Chamoli District Magistrate Swati S Bhadoria said that several roads have been closed due to torrential rains.
"On roads which are closed due to landslide, the work is on to clear the debris and reopen the roads. Electricity poles have uprooted and they are being fixed. Orders have been passed to deploy NDRF and SDRF teams in several tehsils of the district," she told ANI.
In Pithoragarh's Dharchula, several roads were closed for 8 hours due to landslides amid rain.
Anil Kumar Shukla, Sub Divisional Magistrate, Divisional said that 12-14 affected families were evacuated and taken to safer places.
Meanwhile, in Dehradun, locals witnessed mist in the morning today like the winter resulting in low visibility in the city.
IMD predicted heavy to very heavy rainfall with intense spells likely to occur at a few places with extremely heavy at isolated places in Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Chamoli, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar, Pauri, Tehri, Dehradun and Haridwar districts of Uttarakhand in next two days.
Lightning is also likely to occur at isolated places in Uttarakhand, the weather forecasting agency said. (ANI)