Heavy rainfall in different parts of Uttarakhand on Friday night helped in completely extinguishing forest fires in the hill state. The forest department was struggling with the forest fires spreading to new areas.
A total of 2,003 forest fire incidents have taken place in the Himalayan state this year, gutting about 4265.786 hectares of green forest land. Uttarakhand forest department’s nodal officer for forest fire, B P Gupta said, “With widespread rainfall taking place on Friday, no active forest fire is registered in any part in Uttarakhand.”
Heavy rainfall brought trouble in places like Uttarkashi and Pauri. A girl was washed away in flash floods in Gangtadi village in district Uttarkashi. Four animals were killed in a hailstorm at village Bumuch village in Pauri.
No human casualty was reported from Pauri. In Dehradun many trees were uprooted and electricity lines were damaged in the heavy rainfall and storm. Dehradun received 40 mm rainfall.
By receiving 44.25 mm rainfall, Ukhimath recorded the heaviest among all the places in Uttarakhand. The public got respite from the scorching heat in the plain districts of Uttarakhand.
The Indian Meteorological Department has predicated hail/squall at isolated paces in Uttarakhand during the next 24 hours. Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat sought information about the damage caused by the severe storm on Friday evening from the State Emergency Operation Centre.
The Chief Minister asked the employees on duty to get information about the damage caused in districts on telephone. He said that any incident should be conveyed to senior officials immediately.
Rawat asked the different departments to maintain extra vigil in the next three months. He also asked the district magistrates to be prepared for any kind of disaster and respond.
The CM directed district magistrates to supervise the district disaster control rooms regularly and take strict action against officials and employees showing laxity in their responsibilities.