Uttarakhand: Rishikesh-Chamba National Highway-94 closed for traffic due to falling of debris

Tehri Garhwal (Uttarakhand) [India]: Rishikesh-Chamba National Highway-94 has been closed for traffic due to heavy debris and boulders piling up after a landslide occured on Friday, officials said.

Brijesh Bhatt, District Disaster Officer of Tehri Garhwal, said that the Rishikesh-Chamba National Highway-94 is closed due to heavy debris and boulders coming near Bagadhar.

“The national highway has been closed since last 24 hours, due to heavy debris and boulders that came yesterday,” he said.

“Efforts are on to clear the debris and open the highway, which was closed towards Narendra Nagar and Agrakhal by Pokeland and Loader,” he added.

Earlier on Friday, Guptkashi-Gaurikund highway leading to Kedarnath Dham was closed for traffic due to heavy debris falling from the hill under Chowki Phata in Uttarakhand’s Rudraprayag district.

According to officials, about 60 metres of the road had been badly damaged and washed away in the incident.

Rudraprayag police said that people and passengers are facing obstruction from the police stations in the lower area (Chowki Jawadi, Kotwali Rudraprayag, Chowki Tilwada, Thana Agastyamuni, Kakdagad).Many districts of the state, including Rudraprayag, have been witnessing incessant rain for the last couple of days.

The Indian Meteorological Department on Saturday issued a red alert for Uttarakhand for August 13 and August 14.

“Urgent red alert issued for Uttarakhand as heavy to very heavy rainfall, reaching extremely heavy levels (more than 204.4 mm), is forecasted for August 13th and 14th. Stay safe,” IMD said in a tweet.