By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
The multi-agency rescue operation in the floods-ravaged Dharali in Uttarakhand picked up momentum on Wednesday amid confusion over the exact number of people who have gone missing in the disaster following the Tuesday’s cloudburst in the higher reaches of Khirgard nullah that created havoc in the area.
Nearly 400 pilgrims are stranded in Gangotri temple area as the main national highway has been damaged at number of places due to landslides and cloudbursts, the state emergency operation centre said. Scores of highways and roads are blocked in the hill state due to landslides. The army, ITBP, NDRF and SDRF are engaged in the rescue operation as they mounted efforts to retrieve bodies and look for survivors in Dharali market area which has been flattened by the debris of the floods.
An army spokesman said nearly 9 army personnel are missing in the cloudburst in Harsil
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami flew to Uttarkashi to take stock of the situation.
According to an estimate prepared by the local people of Dharali village, scores of people, including pilgrims are missing in the disaster. One body of Akash Panwar has been retrieved.
Five people were killed and more than 130 rescued as a cloudburst on Tuesday triggered calamitous floods in Khirgaurd nullah that swept away several hotels and houses at Dharali town on the Gangotri highway in Uttarkashi district of the disaster-prone Uttarakhand.
Within ten minutes after the floods, nearly 150 army jawans from the nearby Harsil camp arrived at the scene of the disaster to launch the rescue and relief operation swiftly. Besides Dharali, two more cloudbursts occurred – one at Sukhitop and other at Harsil areas in Uttarkashi district within a short span of one hour.
Few viral videos showed people screaming and running helter-skelter on the Gangotri highway seconds before a big wall of the flash floods struck Dharali, a small town, situated only 18 kms before Gangotri temple area in the Garhwal Himalayas. Several hotels and houses were swept away as the floods tore through them.
Chief Minister Dhami rushed back to Dehradun after his tour to Tirupati area in Andhra Pradesh in the wake of the disaster and began monitoring the rescue operation.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah are also closely monitoring the situation and said the centre would provide all possible help for the relief and rescue operations.
Caption:
1: Rescue and relief operation in Dharali
2: The aftermath of Dharali on Tuesday
