At least 150 workers are feared missing after a portion of Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Tapovan area of Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district on Sunday morning and damaged the Rishiganga dam on Alaknanda river.
More than 150 labourers working at the Rishiganga power project may have been directly affected, said State Disaster Response Force DIG Ridhim Aggarwal told news agency PTI.
“Representatives of the power project have told me that they are not being able to contact around 150 of their workmen at the project site,” she said.
Prayers for #Uttrakhand
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भगवान बद्रीविशाल कृपा … pic.twitter.com/zDB2eBuHHT
According to a SDRF official, a head constable from Joshimath informed the control room this morning that a glacier in Raini village has broken off. He said there was an avalanche at Nanda Devi two days back.
Teams of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the National Disaster Response Force were rushed to flood-hit areas in Uttarakhand, where a glacier broke off at Joshimath and caused massive flooding in the Dhauli Ganga river on Sunday, officials said.
An ITBP officer said two teams of the force, comprising about 200 personnel, had moved to the affected areas from Joshimath.
The border guarding force has units based in Joshimath as part of its mandate to guard the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China.
As news of the disaster came in, two teams were rushed from Dehradun to Joshimath, NDRF Director General S N Pradhan added. We are working to airlift three-four more teams from the Hindon IAF base near Delhi, he said. The extent of damage can only be ascertained after some more time, he said.
People are being evacuated from the areas near Alkananda. As a precautionary measure, flow of Bhagirathi River has been stopped. To prevent the flow of water of Alaknanda, Srinagar Dam & Rishikesh Dam have been emptied.
“It came very fast, there was no time to alert anyone,” Sanjay Singh Rana, who lives on the upper reaches of Raini village, told Reuters by phone. “I felt that even we would be swept away.” Locals fear that people working at a nearby hydro-power project had been swept away, as well as villagers roaming near the river looking for firewood or grazing their cattle, Rana said.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat has spoken to officials of the state disaster management and Chamoli administration. All districts are on high alert and people have been warned not to venture near the Ganga river. He also appealed to people to not spread rumours through old flood videos. Rawat has said that Alaknanda water level is 1 metre above normal but the flow is reducing gradually.
Nanda Devi glacier broke off in Chamoli district of #Uttarakhand Sunday morning.Damaged a dam on Alaknanda river. Rise in water level in river. Reports of loss awaited. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/J0UoBoIJEe
— Lalmani Verma (@LalmaniVerma838) February 7, 2021
More than 150 labourers working at the Rishi Ganga power project may have been directly affected, said State Disaster Response Force DIG Ridhim Aggarwal.
Representatives of the power project have told me that they are not being able to contact around 150 of their workmen at the project site,” she said. Though details are awaited, several districts, including Pauri, Tehri, Rudraprayag, Haridwar and Dehradun, are likely to be affected and have been put on high alert.