Heavy rain alert in Uttarakhand for Oct 18; CM Dhami assures all arrangements
In view of the heavy rain alert, Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh urged all devotees undertaking Char Dham Yatra to postpone the yatra by a day or two amid safety concerns.
In view of the heavy rain warning in Uttarakhand, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday assured that all arrangements have been made and alerts issued to take care of any emergency situation. The chief minister further directed the police, the SDRF and other personnel concerned to be on high alert at sensitive places. The chief minister's directions came after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert warning for Uttarakhand for Monday (October 18) along with an orange alert till Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the CM urged all devotees undertaking Char Dham Yatra to postpone the yatra by a day or two amid heavy rain alert and safety concerns. Visitors to Badrinath temple have been requested to stay at safe locations due to heavy rain warnings; they have been further advised to stay back at Joshimath and Pandukeshwar until weather conditions improve.
"The agencies should be prepared to respond to any emergency situation arising out of the weather change... Response time should be less as much as possible with immediate relief to the affected people," Dhami said.
The state has further barred trekking/camping, mountaineering groups from entering into the forest areas of Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, Gopeshwar, from October 17-19, in wake of heavy rain alert for the state.
Amid weather warnings, all schools in Chamoli, Uttarkashi district and Dehradun will stay shut on Monday, as per directions by the District Magistrate of the respective districts. Nainital and Almora administrations have also directed schools to be shut on Monday in their respective districts.
IMD alert
The IMD on Sunday issued a red alert with a forecast of heavy to very heavy rainfall at many places and extremely heavy rainfall at isolated places in Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Almora, Nainital, Champawat, Dehradun, Tehri and Pauri Garhwal districts for October 18. The weather department warned of heavy rains in Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Nainital and Champawat districts as well.