Uttarakhand faces fury of nature, toll 33

Dehradun : Landslides triggered by pounding rains and gale continued to wreak havoc taking least thirty-three lives in past 48 hours in Uttarakhand, official sources said on Sunday.

Almora district was worst struck by nature’s fury where maximum death reported due to cloudburst triggering landslides, house collapses and drowning since yesterday.

Almora District Magistrate Suvardhan and SP C D Pant, who are continuously overseeing the rescue operations with help of ITBP, Army, local police and officials, informed that after Saturday’s cloudburst, the Badi Balta and Devali villages bore the brunt of landslides.

Eighteen people have died in landslides in Almora’s Devli village. Twelve houses have been washed away after a cloud burst in Bari village as well. Uttarakhand has recorded over 300 mm of rainfall in the last 24 hours.

The Kosi swelled after a sudden cloud burst in Almora. From one lakh 15 thousand cu secs early morning on Saturday, the water level rose to one and a half lakh cu secs by evening, resulting flooding in low lying areas.

The Jim Corbett National park also faced the wrath of the weather, forcing the travellers to change tour programmes. About a dozen resorts in the area have incurred heavy losses.