DEHRADUN: With incessant rains causing rivers across the state to swell up, the regional meteorological centre has warned of flooding in low lying areas in plain districts. The State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) has been put on high alert and a rescue team stationed at Rishikesh to deal with emergency situations.
“Rivulets and streams are likely to overflow at isolated places and inundate low lying areas, especially in Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts in the next two days. People residing in such areas should remain cautious," said Bikram Singh, director of the regional meteorological centre.
Notably, Haridwar received over 100mm of rainfall last night. While Ganga in Haridwar remained in spate and was flowing at 292.50 meters on Thursday, less than a meter below the warning mark of 293 meters, the Saryu river in Bageshwar was also flowing very close to the danger mark.
Alaknanda river in Chamoli district was also inching close to 955 meters, just 2 meters below the danger mark, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).
The regional meteorological centre has also issued a forecast of heavy rainfall in Dehradun, Nainital, Bageshwar and Pithoragarh districts for the next 48 hours.
On Thursday, over 140 roads — mostly link roads — were blocked across the state due to heavy rains in the past 24 hours. A maximum of 40 village link roads were out of bounds in Uttarkashi district, followed by 38 roads in Chamoli and 32 roads in Pauri Garhwal district.
The Rishikesh-Kedarnath national highway remained blocked due to a landslide at Rampur-Phata in Rudraprayag district.
