Uttarakhand rain: Dehradun Defence College building collapses
The building of a school, the Dehradun Defence College, in Uttarakhand’s Maldevta on Monday collapsed amid incessant rainfall. The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday issued a red alert and predicted heavy rainfall with lightning in six districts of the state for the next twenty-four hours.
Dehradun Defence College is situated at the foothills of Garhwal Himalayas. On its website, the college says it prepares students for National Defence Academy and defence services examinations apart from the Indian Institute of Technology and technical courses.
The weather department said in a statement, “Very heavy to extremely heavy rain/ thunderstorm accompanied with lightning and very intense to extremely intense spell is very likely to occur at isolated places in Dehradun, Pauri, Tehri, Nainital, Champawat and Udham Singh Nagar in next 24 hours.”
Meanwhile, Badrinath National Highway in Pipalkoti area in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district has been blocked due to debris triggered by a landslide, following intermittent rainfall. Several vehicles have also been buried under the debris.
“Due to heavy debris falling from the mountain in Pipalkoti, many vehicles were buried under the debris and the roads have been closed,” news agency ANI quoted Chamoli district magistrate Himanshu Khurana as saying.
The district magistrate added that at present, there are vehicles buried under the debris and information has been received about one person buried under the debris in Pipalkoti.
Uttarakhand assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri Bhushan took stock of disaster-affected areas in Kotdwar in the state on Sunday.
According to official estimates, 52 people had died due to rain-related incidents in this monsoon session while another 37 people sustained injuries. Heavy rain in Uttarakhand have triggered landslides and flash floods in several places.
On the instructions of the chief minister, SDRF and NDRF personnel were deployed in places badly affected by rain-related incidents.