Uttarakhand rains: SDRF continuously monitoring situation, conducting rescue operations

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], October 19 (ANI): The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) is continuously monitoring the situation in Uttarakhand with teams conducting overnight rescue operations, amid a flood-like situation triggered by heavy rains in the state.
According to SDRF, after the meteorological department issued a red alert for the state, all the teams are on high alert.
Navneet Bhullar, SDRF commandant, Uttarakhand is personally monitoring the situation and taking all the required information from the State Emergency Operation Centre for giving guidelines to the officials concerned with rescue and relief operations.
Along with this, the SDRF control room team is engaged in gathering information about each development from the officials concerned.

The SDRF said that Monday was very challenging due to incessant heavy rain. The calls for rescue kept on coming throughout the night and a quick response was given by the teams.
The rescue team conducted many operations overnight in different places across the state and over 50 people were rescued including 22 devotees stuck in incessant rainfall while returning from the Kedarnath temple.
The team also rescued four labourers, who were trapped in the debris, of which one woman was injured and was immediately sent to the hospital.
Due to the landslide, many vehicles were stuck in the debris and the SDRF team safely evacuated the people from their vehicles.

The SDRF team also rescued a girl trapped in the house which collapsed due to heavy rainfall in the Heera Dungri Almora area.
Further in the night, it also rescued 25 trekkers who were stranded on Gaumukh Marg near the Kankhu barrier and brought them safely to Gangotri.
According to the Chamoli district administration, 2,500 devotees, who had gone to Badrinath, are still stationed at the Badrinath Temple waiting for the highway to re-open.
However, the rain continues to lash the state and Badrinath received fresh snowfall this morning.
As a precautionary measure, the Badrinath Char Dham Yatra has been halted, and passengers en route to Badrinath Temple were stopped in safe places.
The water level in the Nandakini river has also risen significantly raising an alarm. As per Meteorological Centre Dehradun, Chamoli received 19.8 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours.
National forecasting agency -- India Meteorological Department -- has issued a red alert for Uttarakhand with a forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall in the state for the next few days.
Earlier, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami took detailed information from officials about the situation in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke to Dhami to take stock of the situation arising due to heavy rains in the state. (ANI)