Dharali village in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand was ravaged by a cloudburst on Tuesday, resulting in flash floods and landslides. Among the major losses was a 40-room hotel of Jai Bhagwan who was lucky to escape with his life as he was visiting a nearby temple at the time.
On the day of the disaster, Bhagwan found that no guests had arrived at his hotel located in Dharali’s market area. He decided to go to a nearby temple to celebrate a local festival.
‘Waves of mud, water and rocks came crashing through’
At around 1:40 pm, chaos erupted in Dharali as a massive landslide struck, panic spread.
According to The Indian Express, Bhagwan who was at the temple during the incident said, “First there was a thunderous sound, then screams from the nearby village. People were whistling but we didn’t understand what was happening. Then massive waves of mud, water and rocks came crashing through.”
Realising the gravity of the situation Bhagwan rushed back home only to find the floodwaters had reached there too. He then walked to Harsil village for safety.
His four-storey hotel was completely washed away in the landslide, a scene he saw in a video. “In the video my hotel is seen being swept away like a leaf. It was a 40-room hotel,” he said.
Narrow escape for hotel staff as there were no tourists
For the next few hours Bhagwan kept checking on his family but lost contact with them after 4 pm on Tuesday.
Luckily since it was off season and there were no tourists, the hotels in the area including Bhagwan’s were empty. “During other months especially during Char Dham yatra my hotel is fully booked. But fortunately neither my staff nor my nephew who manages the hotel were present,” he said.
Rescue operations in the flood-affected areas of Uttarkashi are still on and have entered the third day on Thursday. So far 190 people including 11 army personnel have been rescued from Dharali. Over 50 are still missing.Multi-agency rescue operation in Dharali