Uttarakhand Floods: Union Min Amit Shah conducts aerial survey of impact with CM Dhami

Union Home Minister Amit Shah conducted an aerial survey of the flood-affected state of Uttarakhand and was accompanied by Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami. The Home Minister arrived in Uttarakhand late on Wednesday to conduct emergency review meetings and to ensure that the relief work was being conducted by the rescue teams. Uttarakhand has been heavily affected by heavy rains, leading to flood-like situations along with multiple landslides.

Union Minister Amit Shah conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas as he boarded the helicopter from the GTC helipad in Dehradun. The Union Home Minister was also accompanied by Uttarakhand governor Lt Gen (Retd) Gurmit Singh and Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt. After completing the aerial survey, Amit Shah attended a high-level review meeting with high-ranking officials of the State and the Centre. Shah said after the meeting while talking to ANI, "Due to timely rainfall alert, the extent of damage could be controlled." He continued, “There has been no tourist casualty so far due to heavy rains in Uttarakhand. More than 3500 people were rescued & more than 16,000 precautionary evacuations were done. 17 NDRF teams, seven SDRF teams, 15 companies of PAC, more than 5,000 police personnel deployed."

CM Dhami earlier announced that the state had to endure losses of more than Rs 7,000 crores due to damages caused by the rain. He also said that saving lives and working to restore all kinds of services is the immediate priority of the state. As the weather has been improving, the state government granted the stranded pilgrims permission to visit the Char Dham destinations of Kedarnath, Yamunotri, Gangotri and Badrinath.

The latest data on the casualties

As per the updated natural disaster incident report released on Wednesday, at least eight people reportedly lost their lives on October 18. The report said that three people were deceased in Pauri and another three in Pithoragarh, meanwhile, two people died in Champawat. Later on October 19, Uttarakhand reported a massive surge in flood-related deaths with 45 more casualties. Nainital reported the most number of deaths with 28 casualties, as there were six deaths in Almora, eight in Champawat, two in Udham Singh Nagar and one in Bageshwar. There has been immense damage to the properties as well in Uttarakhand following heavy rains. As per the reports, 46 houses have been completely or partially destroyed.

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: ANI