Uttarakhand: Two houses collapse in Nainital’s Kathgodam area due to heavy rains

Two houses in Kathgodam of Uttrakhand’s Nainital district collapsed on Tuesday late evening after the water level in the Kalsiya Nallah rose due to incessant heavy rainfall, forcing the district administration to relocate over 200 people from the area to the Kathgodam inter college, sub-divisional magistrate Haldwani Manish Singh said.

Teams of police and local officials have alerted people living near flooded nallahs and rivers, including Kalsiya Nallah, Rakisiya, Gaula river, Bhakhra river, Sher Nallah and Surya Nallah and urged them to not venture close to water bodies, Singh said.

“Due to the rise in water levels of rivers and nallahs, Ramnagar and Sitarganj highways have been closed for traffic. The Nainital-Haldwani road has also been closed due to continuous boulder-falls occurring on many stretches,” he said.

In Kotdwar area of Pauri district, the SDRF team rescued 16 people who got stuck in the swelled river near Malan Bridge. These 16 people, who work as labourers, were returning when they got stuck.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday evening conducted a detailed district-wise review of the disaster situation arising due to heavy rains in the state.

The chief minister directed officials to provide helicopter services to evacuate pregnant women from disaster-affected areas, and instructed officials to start repairing affected roads without delay. He also instructed them to pay attention to practical aspects in the distribution of compensation to the disaster-affected people.