According to the news agency, 17 people were injured in rain-related incidents and 16 people, including 11 members of a trekking team, went missing. In the Kumaon region of the state, which has been the most affected by the rains, 46 houses have also been damaged.
With 28 deaths, Nainital alone has the highest number of deaths.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami visited the affected areas of Udham Singh Nagar and Champawat districts of Kumaon to take stock of the situation.
Accompanied by Union Minister of State for Defense and Nainital MP Ajay Bhatt and State Disaster Management Minister Dhan Singh Rawat, Dhami, riding a tractor, traversed massive fields in Udham Singh Nagar district and assessed the damage to crops.
He also walked through the streets of Champawat to directly assess the damage caused by incessant rains for nearly three days.
He traveled by road as his helicopter could not take off from Haldwani due to technical reasons.
Home Minister Amit Shah is also likely to reach the state late Wednesday night to review the situation. Officials said he may also conduct an aerial survey of the affected areas on Thursday morning.
The weather cleared across Uttarakhand on Wednesday, prompting rescue operations and the partial resumption of the Chardham Yatra, allowing pilgrims to visit Kedarnath, Yamunotri and Gangotri. However, the journey to Badrinath could not be resumed as the national highway leading to the temple was blocked by landslides at several places.
Meanwhile, eight trekkers and three cooks who had accompanied them on their journey to Chitkul in neighboring Himachal Pradesh went missing. The team of eleven people was on a journey to Chitkul via Harsil in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand.
A team of SDRF is preparing to find them in a helicopter and rescue them. There was another news of three porters going missing on the Indo-China border in Uttarkashi district. He had accompanied the ITBP team on long-distance patrolling. On his return he apparently lost his way and got separated from the team.
rain in other states
Meanwhile, areas of Uttar Pradesh, Sikkim and North Bengal also received torrential rains, leading to landslides and closure of National Highway 10, the main road connecting Gangtok with the rest of the country.
In the last two days, three people were killed and hundreds were rendered helpless due to heavy rains in Bareilly and Pilibhit districts of Uttar Pradesh.
Normal life was affected in some parts of North Bengal due to heavy rains in Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Jalpaiguri districts, causing landslides, causing damage to roads and bridges, disrupting or disrupting traffic at various places.
As the rains continued, 3,800 cusecs of water was released from the Gajoldoba Teesta barrage in Bengal, flooding many parts of the lower town of Jalpaiguri.
The overflowing Teesta water also submerged National Highway 10 that connects Siliguri with Sikkim’s capital Gangtok in the Teesta Bazar area, disrupting traffic.
The Meteorological Department has issued a ‘red’ alert for Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Alipurduar, with the possibility of ‘extremely heavy rain at one or two places’ in these districts till Thursday morning. During this time, heavy to very heavy rains are likely in Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar.
Due to the rise in the water level of Teesta and Jaldhaka rivers, many low-lying areas of Jalpaiguri district were inundated. People from these areas were being taken to safer places for shelter.
In Pilibhit in Uttar Pradesh, around 500 villagers are trapped in the flood waters of the Sharda river. A couple in Bareilly’s Faridpur Basti and a nine-year-old boy in Ram Nagar area died after their house collapsed due to heavy rains.
The IMD, which on Wednesday issued an orange alert (heavy to very heavy rain) for 11 districts of Kerala, withdrew it and changed it to yellow, predicting ‘moderate rain’ in these areas.
With inputs from agencies.
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