NEW DELHI — The Indian authorities have been scrambling to evacuate villages and save lives on Sunday after a Himalayan glacier broke and precipitated sudden, large flooding within the northern state of Uttarakhand.
Vivek Kumar Pandey, a spokesman for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, mentioned three our bodies had been recovered and that 150 individuals, a lot of them employees at a hydroelectric dam venture that was largely swept away, have been unaccounted for.
“An avalanche got here and fully broke the Rishiganga energy venture, and virtually all the employees there are lacking,” mentioned Ashok Kumar, the chief of police in Uttarakhand. “By the point the water got here downstream, we had alerted individuals.”
The district of Chamoli in Uttarakhand appeared to have been hit hardest by the surging Dhauliganga River. Amit Shah, India’s dwelling minister, mentioned groups from the nation’s catastrophe response drive had been airlifted in. Lots of of troopers and members of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police have been additionally arriving on the scene, different officers mentioned.
Unconfirmed movies on social media confirmed violent surges of water heading down mountain gorges, washing away bridges and what seemed like hydroelectric constructions.
The scenes have been paying homage to lethal floods in Uttarakhand in 2013, when heavy rain over a number of days led to landslides that killed 1000’s of individuals and washed away complete villages.
Late Sunday afternoon, Trivendra Singh Rawat, the chief minister of Uttarakhand, who had visited Chamoli, posted a video on Twitter that indicated the movement of water had slowed. He expressed hope that a few of the lacking individuals may very well be rescued.
“The opportunity of flooding could be very much less,” he mentioned. “Our particular focus is on rescuing the employees trapped within the tunnels.”
Scientists have warned that local weather change is melting the Himalayan glaciers at an alarming pace. The glaciers, which provide water to an unlimited variety of individuals, may very well be largely passed by the tip of the century, a recent study found.
