Heavy rain triggers landslide near Mussoorie's Kempty Fall - Watch

Mussoorie: Heavy rain in Uttarakhand's Mussoorie resulted into a landslide near Kempty Fall on Tuesday. The incident took place very close to a tourists' spot.

The Meteorological (MeT) department on Wednesday issued a 24-hour heavy rain alert for a number of places in Uttarakhand, especially those located in the Kumaon region, prompting authorities to put the entire administrative machinery on vigil.

Heavy rainfall is likely to occur at isolated places especially in Pithoragarh, Nainital, Champawat, Udham Singh Nagar, Dehradun, Haridwar and Pauri districts during the next 24 hours, the MeT office said.

In a video, a portion of land is seen suddenly collapsing like a pack of cards. It collapsed and fell on the road. Many tourists were stranded due to the incident. The road was later opened after the debris was cleared.

A woman, identified as Narayani Devi, was killed after being hit by boulders falling from a hillside following a landslide at Madkot in the Munsiyari area of Pithoragarh district. Kishan Ram (35) was swept away by the swirling waters of the Gonmuni river at Harkot in the same area, the State Emergency Operations Centre said. There is also information about a man being injured in the area, it said.

Secretary Disaster Management Amit Negi said officials all over the state have been alerted in view of the MeT department warning but the situation is normal so far. 

State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) teams have been deployed at 31 locations and there is a ban on any employee on field duty taking leave till September 15, he said. 

(With inputs from agencies)