Keystone-SDA
The Indian army seeks fifty people who missing in the aftermath of murderous floods on Wednesday. These affected a town in the Himalayas and left at least four dead.
(Keystone-ATS) The disaster took place when muddy waters mixed with debris have invaded the Valley of the locality of Dharali, in the northern state of Uttarakhand. Torrential monsoon rains continue to fall on the region on Wednesday and complicate the work of help. The telephone lines are damaged and the communications difficult.
“Research to find the missing continues,” assured Mohsen Shahedi, of the national strength to response to disasters. Soldiers and rescuers managed to access isolated individuals and, after the announcement on Tuesday that a hundred people had been missing, the balance sheet was halved.
Videos broadcast by the Indian media show torrents of muddy water Tuesday take away residential buildings in Dharali on Tuesday, a tourist place in Uttarakhand. A large part of the village is invaded by mud. Heads of rescue operations believe that it covers certain places up to 15 meters, enough to swallow up buildings.
This is where more than 50 people are wanted, according to Mr. Shahedi, while 11 soldiers are also missing in Harsil, a downstream village. “Additional military columns” were deployed for rescue operations alongside sniff dogs, drones and civil engineering machines, the Indian army announced on Wednesday.
Military helicopters are mobilized for supply purposes, especially in medication, and evacuation, added the army.
“Deaf noise”
The head of regional government Pushkar Singh Dhami said that the flood was due to sudden and intense precipitation. The broadcast videos show several people running before being swallowed up by dark waves crowded with debris destroying whole buildings.
“People didn’t understand what was going on. The waters of the flood struck them in 15 seconds, “Suman Semwal reported to the newspaper The Indian Express, explaining that his father saw, from a village upstream, this flood” of unimaginable magnitude “hit Dharali in” a deaf noise “.
The forecasters announced Wednesday that the level of all the main rivers of the Uttarakhand State was above the danger threshold. “The inhabitants were moved to the heights due to the elevation of the water levels caused by the incessant rains,” said the army.
The deadly floods and landscaped lands are common during the monsoon season from June to September in India, but “these intense rainy episodes are becoming more and more frequent and could be linked to climate change,” said hydrologist Manish Shrestha. According to him, 270 mm of rain recorded in 24 hours make this episode an “extreme event”.
In the mountains, rains of this magnitude have a “more concentrated” effect than on the Plains below, adds this expert from the International Center for Integrated Mountain Development, based in Nepal. The United Nations Meteorological Agency (OMM) indicated last year that the increasingly intense floods and droughts were “an alarm signal” of what awaited the populations at the time of climate change, which makes the water cycle of the planet more unpredictable.
