By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
A big terrifying sound of the lightning broke the deep sleep of the people in Dehradun city early on Sunday. It appeared to be a warning about the very incessant rains pounding Uttarakhand since Saturday night.
“I just woke up from my sleep thinking something big has happened in a close by area. It was really scary,” said Rekha Kumari, who lives in Shivpuri area of Dehradun.
Rajendra Badoni also couldn’t sleep well after hearing the big sound of lightning. “I kept wondering about the area where the lightning might have struck,” he said.
However, no untoward incident was reported in Dehradun after the lightning stuck. But most of the people remained concerned about the heavy rains in the state.
Met department has already sounded a red alert with a warning of very heavy rains in the next few days.
The torrential rains in Dehradun and other parts of the hill state have already wreaked havoc triggering cloudbursts, landslides and flash floods in many areas. Most of the rivers including Ganga and Saryu were flowing near the danger level at most of the places. Already, nine labourers were feared dead at Silayiband area on the Yamunotri highway in Uttarkawshi district following a cloudburst.
The Chardham yatra has been suspended for a day.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is continuously monitoring the situation and has issued an appeal to the people in general to remain alert and avoid unnecessary travels.
In the past one month, scores of people have lost their lives in these disasters in the state.
In the mid-June of 2013, Uttarakhand witnessed torrential downpour continuously for 3-4 days before the big disaster struck in Kedarnath area that left over 5000 people dead.
Since then, the hill state has been continuously witnessing natural disasters which bring widespread deaths and destructions almost every monsoon season.
