Uttarakhand rainfall: River Alaknanda reaches danger mark, submerges temples

Heavy rainfall in Srinagar on Saturday reportedly caused river Alaknanda to reach danger level mark and submerge some temples. The Gangotri temple got flooded because of the spate in river Ganga.The water level of rivers Kailash, Begul and Sukhi rose as well. Ukhimath experienced a landslide.This comes just days after Chief Minister Harish Rawat said the situation was under control. He further said that most roads were cleared and opened after heavy rainfall and landslides blocked the Gangotri highway and the Rishikesh-Badrinath National Highway 58.The Alaknanda river rose above the danger level after rainfall of over 100 mm hit Uttarakhand a few days back within a few hours, leading to floods in most villages of Uttarakhand.The water level of most rivers in Uttarakhand had also increased. The rivers in the hilly tracts were in spate and the water level has risen well above the danger mark on 3 July.Rawat also chaired a special meeting in Dehradun to review the relief and rescue operations.Atleast 40 people were feared dead in the last bout of rainfall to strike Uttarakhand. Several more were reported missing.All means of communications had also collapsed because of the rain. Rawat had written to the Home Ministry, the telecom Ministry and spoken to BSNL in this regard.In response, Home Minister Rajnath Singh ensured all possible support from the central government. "The Centre spring into action immediately and rushed additional companies of NDRF to affected districts besides galvanising other central agencies to address the situation," Pradesh BJP President Ajay Bhatt said.