Early Tuesday morning, a cloudburst in Dehradun’s Sahastradhara neighborhood triggered torrential rain and flash flooding. Two individuals are missing, and several shops were washed away. The event has led officials to turn on all parts of the Incident Response System (IRS) to work together on rescue efforts.
District Magistrate Savin Bansal said that teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), and the Public Works Department (PWD) have been sent. “Some stores were swept away, and two persons are missing. Bansal said, “Search efforts are underway.”
The flash flood has had a big effect on the infrastructure in the area. A part of the road near Maldevta was entirely swept away, and the important Dehradun-Mussoorie road is one of the roads that has been damaged. Ajai Singh, a senior police superintendent, said that police and city agencies are trying to clear the roads that have been damaged and deal with the rising water levels that have been recorded all throughout the city.
A culvert on the Dehradun-Haridwar National Highway near Laltappar was also partially damaged, which completely blocked traffic on that road. Cars are presently being sent through Bhaniyawala and Nepali Farm.
A lot of waterlogging and weather warnings
Police say that there is a lot of waterlogging all across Dehradun. “Please stay away from rivers and streams because the water levels are rising quickly,” Superintendent Singh said, emphasizing how dangerous the situation is.
The calamity comes after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) warned that there would be more rain than usual and that there might be occasional cloudbursts and landslides in the Himalayan states. This new event is just one more disaster that has hit the area. August was the wettest month in the Himalayan states since 2001. Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand all saw landslides, flash floods, and infrastructure collapse because of the constant rain.
The IMD’s warning came after five weather events in August that made the monsoon active in the Himalayan states and northwestern plains. The harsh weather has caused a lot of damage, such the flood in the village of Dharali in Uttarakhand and the heavy cloudbursts in Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.