More than a hundred people were reported missing in northern India on Sunday after a Himalayan glacier broke, which caused a flash flood by falling into a river.
When the night prevented further search, seven corpses were discovered, according to the authorities of the State of Uttarakhand, who reported 125 to 200 missing according to the sources.
The huge body of water has devastated the Dhauliganga River valley, destroying everything in its path, submerging a hydroelectric complex and washing away roads and bridges, according to images taken by terrified locals.
“There was a cloud of dust when the water came through. The earth was shaking like an earthquake, ”resident Om Agarwal told Indian television.
Dozens of employees of the two power plants installed on the Richiganga dam are missing, as well as residents of the region, washed away while tending to their livestock, according to the authorities.
The dam was devastated by the flood caused by the fall of a huge piece of glacier that broke away from a wall of the mountain upstream.
Uttarakhand State Prime Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat said at least 125 people were missing, but the toll could climb.
The local police chief, Ashok Kumar, had earlier mentioned 200 missing in the power stations alone.
About 20 employees got stuck in a tunnel, but 12 were rescued.
With the main road washed away, the tunnel was filled with mud and rocks. Rescuers had to use ropes to reach the entrance.
Hundreds of soldiers and paramilitaries, as well as helicopters and military planes, have been mobilized in the region.
Located in the Himalayan massif, Uttarakhand is an Indian state where the Ganges rises. The Dhauliganga river is a tributary of the Ganges.
Authorities emptied two dams to prevent raging waters from swelling the Ganges in the towns of Rishikesh and Haridwar, and prohibited residents of both towns from approaching the banks of the holy river.
Villages in the mountains overlooking the river have been evacuated, but most of the flood danger has passed, authorities said Sunday evening.
A “sinister reminder”
Many social media users filmed or photographed the disaster. Videos show the body of water ravaging a narrow valley below the power plant, leaving roads and bridges destroyed in its path.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was following the relief operations. “India stands alongside the people of Uttarakhand and the nation prays for the safety of everyone in this region,” he said on Twitter.
Fourteen glaciers overlook the river in Nanda Devi National Park. They are the subject of scientific studies, due to growing concerns about climate change and deforestation. A quarter of the Himalayan ice has melted over the past four decades due to rising temperatures.
“Avalanches are a common phenomenon in the watershed area,” MPS Bisht, director of the Uttarakhand Space Applications Center, told AFP. “Large landslides are also common.”
In 2013, devastating monsoon flooding killed 6,000 people in the state, prompting calls to review development projects in Uttarakhand, especially in isolated areas like the Rishi Ganga dam.
Uma Bharti, a former minister of water resources, said when she was in government she called for the freezing of hydroelectric projects in “sensitive” Himalayan regions such as the Ganges and its tributaries.
For Vimlendhu Jha, founder of Swechha, an environmental NGO, this disaster is a “grim reminder” of the effects of climate change and the “inconsistent development of roads, railways and power plants in environmentally fragile areas. “.
“Activists and residents have continued to oppose major projects in the river valley,” he said.