Uttarakhand Rain: Pushkar Singh Dhami urges district magistrates to stay on high alert

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has issued directions to the district magistrates of the State to remain in alert mode while coordinating with relief and rescue teams following the rain situation in the State.

According to an official release from the Chief Minister's office, "CM Dhami has said that he is in constant touch with the concerned officials of the areas affected by waterlogging due to heavy rains in the state."

The Chief Minister has directed all the district magistrates of the state to remain in alert mode at all times while coordinating with SDRF, NDRF and other rescue teams, it said.

As per the release, the Chief Minister has appealed to the people of the state to leave their homes only when there is essential work after the Meteorological Department issued an alert of heavy rain at many places across the state.

He said that the safety of the people of the state and the travellers coming to the state is a top priority.

Meanwhile, Disaster Management Authority Joint CEO Mohammad Obaidulla Ansari, while talking exclusively to ANI, said that today there is an orange alert for Dehradun and Bageshwar, while there is a yellow alert for other districts.

After the weather department's alert, instructions have been given to all the districts in the disaster control room to be cautious.

He said that there is no information about a cloudburst anywhere. A total of 265 roads have been blocked, out of which 60 have been opened so far and efforts are being made to open the remaining roads.

Along with this, the water level of the rivers is also rising, and in such a situation, warnings are being issued continuously.

Earlier in the day, rescue personnel pulled out the body of a woman who got burried under the debris of a building that was hit by a landslide in Ghansali, Uttarakhand, in the early hours of today.

The woman and her daughter got trapped under debris from their home that collapsed in the landslide triggered by heavy rain in village Toli.

The disaster control room was notified at around 3 am today that the two were buried under the debris of a building at around 1:30 am due to a landslide.

The SDRF team, under the leadership of Chief Constable Kuldeep Singh from Post Ghansali, reached the spot and started the rescue work.

"During an intensive search by SDRF and District Police, the body of a woman, Sarita Devi, buried in the debris has been recovered," SDRF stated.

A search operation is underway for her daughter.

Heavy rains in parts of Uttarakhand over the past few days have triggered landslides in the hills, with the highway to Badrinath blocked at many points by rubble on several occasions.