Uttarakhand rainfall: 12 people still missing; SDRF deploys sniffer dogs

The Uttarakhand state disaster response force (SDRF) on Monday deployed four sniffer dogs in Sarkhet village to trace 12 people feared trapped under the debris for over 48 hours after torrential rainfall caused severe damage to properties in Dehradun and Tehri districts, a senior official said.

SDRF commandant Manikant Mishra said rescue teams in Dehradun and Pauri Garhwal districts are still engaged in search operations.

Sarkhet was struck by a cloudburst early Saturday, and JCB and poclain machines were pressed into search operations.

A flood team is also searching for bodies in the Soda-Saroli area where a portion of the bridge over the Song river got washed away, the official added.

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In Tehri’s Gwar village, the search operation is manual because of a damaged connecting route. Seven members of a family in the village were trapped under the debris of a house. Two bodies were recovered on Saturday, but five are still untraceable, officials said.

Five people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents so far – three in Tehri Garhwal, one each in Pauri Garhwal and Dehradun.

SDRF media in charge Lalita Negi said teams were also engaged in supplying ration in affected areas where the road network got damaged.

Heavy rainfall in the Garhwal region has led to buses plying on the Haridwar-Kotdwar route through a longer route via Uttar Pradesh.