Rains lash Uttarakhand; 4 killed, 5 others missing

Dehradun: Four members of a family were killed, while five others, including SDM of Almora district, were feared dead in rain-related incidents as heavy showers lashed Uttarakhand on Wednesday, causing fresh landslips, damaging roads and sweeping away a number of homes.

Almora SDM Ajay Arora slipped off the makeshift bridge and fell into the Mandakini river which was is spate following heavy rains in Rudraprayag district, officials said. Arora was returning to the Garurchatti base camp when the mishap occurred, they said adding the river is being combed to trace the official. Four persons were swept away in a cloudburst following heavy rains in Kapkot division of Bageshwar district. Kapkot SDM Kailash Singh Tolia, who rushed to the spot, said the four persons seem to have flown down a nearby canal and efforts are on to locate them. 125 mm of rains were recorded in Kapkot division during the past 24 hours, leaving Saryu and Gomti rivers, that flow through the area, in spate. The rivers are flowing just below the danger mark. Earlier, four members of a family were killed in their sleep in a slum area in Rajpur road of Dehradun when early morning rains caused a landslide in a nearby hill and boulders fell over their slum flattening it, police said. Heavy rains that continued for about an hour, threw normal life out of gear in the city and left the roads heavily waterlogged, police said. PTI