Himalayan floods wipe out Indian village
(MENAFN) For Urmila Parashpe, a 48-year-old from Mumbai in Maharashtra, surviving the destruction of Dharali was nothing short of miraculous. The town was obliterated in what officials describe as the deadliest disaster to hit India’s Himalayan region since 2013.
Urmila recalled traveling with six others in a car when she spotted a massive surge of debris hurtling down from the mountains toward Dharali, a key stop on the route to the Hindu pilgrimage site of Gangotri. The catastrophe struck on the afternoon of August 5, when sudden flash floods overwhelmed the area.
The scale of the tragedy is still emerging. While Urmila managed to escape, others were not as fortunate. Among them is the 40-year-old son of local resident Asha Negi, who ran a small tea and Maggi shop in Dharali. “I have not heard from him ever since the incident happened, and his mobile has also been switched off. Just tell me if he is alive and I will go home, or take me to the town and I will find him myself,” she implored a security officer at a makeshift evacuation base in the nearby town of Matli.
Residents reported that dozens of homes, guesthouses, and hotels were destroyed, with an unknown number of people buried beneath the rubble. Locals fear that over 100 people could be missing.
According to state authorities, 1,126 people have been evacuated from Dharali and the neighboring town of Harshil, which was also hit by a landslide. Officials say 68 people remain unaccounted for, including 24 Nepali nationals.
Recovery crews have been working around the clock to reopen the road linking Uttarkashi to Dharali, located about 70 kilometers away.
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