Incessant rains lashed Uttarakhand's Tehri district on Thursday with rainwater inundating homes in Muni ki Reti area near Rishikesh and landslips blocking the national highways to Badrinath and Gangotri, a senior official said. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
Rainwater gushed into nearly 100 houses and huts in Kharasrot, a low lying area near Muni ki Reti at around 11.30 pm on Wednesday night, Narendra Nagar Sub Divisional Magistrate DS Negi said. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
SDRF personnel shifted the families living in the inundated houses to safe locations in a late night rescue operation, he said. Â Water is being pumped out of the houses while intermittent rains continue, the official said. Â Â Â Â Â Â
Cabinet minister and Narendra Nagar MLA Subodh Uniyal also visited the affected area and asked authorities to provide the affected people with essentials like food, drinking water and beds. Â Â Â Â Â
Tehri's Disaster Management Officer Brijesh Bhatt said mounds of debris following landslides have blocked the Rishikesh-Badrinath highway at Malakunti, Timlapani, Atali and Shivpuri. Â The Rishikesh-Gangotri highway is also blocked around three kilometres beyond Bhadrakali. Â Efforts are on to open the highways but continuing showers are a hindrance, Bhatt said.