New Delhi: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an ‘Orange alert’ for Uttarakhand’s Nainital and Bageshwar districts. The weather office has
predicted heavy to very heavy rains in some areas of the 2 districts for Friday.
Heavy rains also caused debris to fall from the hills, leading to a brief disruption of traffic on the Badrinath and Kedarnath route. The pilgrimage to these 2 holy places is currently going on.
Monsoon reaches Uttarakhand, may become active soon
Meanwhile, the IMD declared that the monsoon reached Uttarakhand on June 30. It is expected to get active across the state, latest by Wednesday, said a PTI report. Several parts of the state received light to moderate rains on Thursday as well.
Talking about rains in different parts of the state, the IMD said that Khanpur recorded 41.5 mm of rainfall, Laksar 33 mm, Roorkee 21 mm, Thalisain 19 mm, Ranikhet 18 mm, Champawat 15 mm, and Mussoorie 12.3 mm. In the plains, day temperatures were normal, while in the hilly regions of Uttarakhand, theyb were recorded below normal, said scientists.
In Dehradun the maximum temperature was 30.4 degrees Celsius, which is a degree above normal for this time of the year. In Mukteshwar and New Tehri meanwhile, the temperature was 24.5 degrees and 20.1 degrees Celsius respectively, which is 2 to 3 degrees below normal.
While an orange alert is in place for Nainital and Bageshwar, a yellow alert has been issued for other districts like Dehradun, Tehri, Pauri, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, and Chamoli districts.
Meanwhile, following the weather alert, the State Emergency Operation Centre asked all district magistrates and administrative officials to be prepared to deal with any weather exigencies. The Kedarnath and Badrinath Yatra was also impacted due to the closure of a road, after debris fell from the hills. However, later on the Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar, said that the route was reopened after the heavy boulders and debris were cleared from the path, using JCB machines.
A landslide was also reported from near Gulabkoti village—located between Chamoli and Joshimath, which led to blockage of the Badrinath National Highway. This led to traffic jams on the Highway, said officials. The jam included mostly vehicles carrying pilgrims either travelling to or from Badrinath and Hemkund Sahib.
However officials claimed that the debris was soon cleared on this route as well and smooth traffic movement resumed on the Highway.
