Thousands still trapped in Uttarakhand

NEW DELHI: Nearly 11,000 people have been rescued but over 60,000 persons may still be stuck in various parts of the flash flood and landslide-hit Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh without aid as one India's biggest rescue operations in decades picked up pace on Thursday. The government put the death toll at 150, but it feared that the numbers could run in the thousands when rescue operations are completed.

Unprecedented rains that led to flash floods and landslides in the hill towns earlier this week has left a huge trail of destruction, and shaken the fragile economy of the region, which is heavily dependent on tourism, especially during the summer season.

Tour operators in Delhi and hotels reported huge cancellations. "All our bookings stand cancelled," said Prashant Maithani, manager of Green Mount Adventure, which operates camping and rafting tours in Rishikesh. "This is peak season for us. The tourism business is hit badly. This will have a cascading impact on the economy of the hills."

"There has been extensive damage to Kedarnath, Uttarkashi and Chamoli," said minister of state for home RPN Singh. More than 2,800 people are still stranded in Harsil-Gangotri area, nearly 5,500 in Kedarnath valley, 2,500 on the Hemkund axis and nearly 15,000 on the Badrinath axis.

Ajay Chadha, director general of ITBP, said Kedarnath is totally cut-off via roads and helicopter is the only way to reach people stranded there. "In one helicopter sortie, only 5 people can be rescued and this is why the process to evacuate everyone will take time," Chadha said.

The weather office forecast partly cloudy sky with very slight possibility (10% probability) of light shower at isolated places especially in the hills during the next 48 hours. Anand Sharma, director at IMD-Dehradun, claimed that the department had issued the first warning on June 14. The state government was issued warning again on June 15 about heavy to very heavy rains during next 48 to 72 hours with possibility of landslides and very heavy rainfall especially on June 17.