Light to moderate rains in U'khand, two killed

Two persons, including a woman, were killed in rain-related incidents in Uttarakhand even as the weather was largely clear today across the state except for isolated places where light to moderate showers occurred.
Both the fatalities were reported from Uttarkashi district where an elderly woman was killed in Pindaki village after being hit by a huge boulder from a landslip in a nearby hill while a 26-year-old man was swept away by Supin river in Sidar village of Mori block.
Though there has been a let-up in rainfall for the past few days, landslips continue to cause casualties at places and block roads, Disaster Management and Mitigation officials here said.

Despite two months after the mid June calamity in the state, over 100 roads, including major highways like Rishikesh-Gangotri and Rishikesh-Yamunotri NH were still blocked by rubble from landslides, they said.
Rishikesh-Kedarnath and Rishikesh-Badrinath NH are also blocked at a number of places, the officials said.
Meanwhile, MeT office director Anand Sharma said rainfall was negligible at most places today with Uttarkashi recording a maximum of nearly 13 MM of rains followed closely by Dehradun which received 12.4 MM of showers.
Forecasting similar weather for the state in the next 24 hours, he said light to moderate rains are likely at isolated places.

He said moderate quantity of rain at most places in the state has reduced the water levels of most rivers, including Ganga, Bhagirathi and Alaknanda which are flowing nearly two metres below the danger mark, leading to a sigh of relief among people living close to their banks.