Bharat Singh has been trying to contact his family in Dharali for the past 50 hours now. The 52-year-old was at Gaganani, some 30km from Dharali, when a flash flood pulverised the picturesque village in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district on August 5.
“The bridge broke down after the disaster and I could not go back. The rescue teams brought me to district headquarters and since then I am trying to get information about my wife, children and mother, but to no avail,” he said.
Mr. Singh has scanned rehabilitation centres set up by the government, where people stuck at various places in the district are still being brought in, to see if anyone from his family is there. He has frequented the helipads, requesting officials to air-drop him to the village.
Hundreds like Mr. Singh are anxious, with an agonising wait for company, as their family members remain untraceable. The rescue teams, which saved 238 people from various spots of the district and sent them to safe spots on Thursday, are racing against time, and at times battling adverse weather conditions, to find survivors from the flattened village.
With communication towers damaged, phones and internet services are unavailable. Power supply at the disaster spot is cut since the time of the incident.
Beena Khatri, 47, who lives in Uttarkashi town, reached the district headquarters, where Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is camping, with a request to find her brothers and elderly parents who lived in the disaster-hit village.
She could not control her tears when the Chief Minister told her that the power corporation has airlifted a generator to resume electricity supply in Dharali and even a temporary communication facility is being set up. “All I wish is to hear a word from my mother that she is alive and safe,” said Ms. Beena.
The great escape
Amid the pal of gloom, the family of Balwant Murari, living some 150km away at another village, heaved a sigh of relief when it got a call on Wednesday night. On the other side of the phone was Mr. Murari, one of the persons who were seen running ahead of a car in Dharali when the flood hit the village. The video was shot by a local from Mukhba, some 3km from Dharali. Mr. Murari recalled the few seconds of devastation that unfolded in front of him, without a warning.
“I work at Shiv Kripa Hotel. I was there at the spot with around 15 of my colleagues when the flash flood hit the village. We heard people screaming for help and we too ran out of the hotel. We ran ahead of a car which got washed away in floods but we all survived miraculously,” he said.
Sohan Panwar, another worker from the hotel, said that he urged an elderly woman, the only guest at Hotel Shivalik, to run.
“I do not think she could understand what I was saying. I never turned back to check on her. All I know is that both the hotels got destroyed. I saw a group of six to seven boys standing at a tea stall getting washed away,” he recalled.
On Thursday, rescue efforts picked pace with the weather clearing. Teams of Indian Army, ITBP, and State Disaster Response Force are on the ground, with drones helping them in locating stranded individuals in inaccessible areas. Two helipads at Harsil and Nelong are operational, enabling rapid troop induction and casualty evacuation.
“With multiple road breaches reported at Bartwari, Linchigad, Gangrani and near Dharali, Chinook and Mi-17 helicopters are positioned in Dehradun for airlift operations, while an ad-hoc aviation base is being established at Matli Helipad. Recco radar teams, search-and-rescue dogs, and five civil helicopters operating from Sahastradhara continue to augment efforts, leading to the rescue of 70 civilians so far,” said a communique from the Indian Army.
Seventeen people were airlifted to higher medical centres, which include 10 from the Indian Army.
Published – August 07, 2025 10:00 pm IST
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