At least seven people died and 20-odd were missing as cloudburst-triggered flash floods and landslides hit four places in the Chamoli, Tehri, Rudraprayag and Bageshwar districts of Uttarakhand in the early hours of Friday.

A couple drowned after their house collapsed in Mopata village of Chamoli, residents said. Mopata received more than 120mm rainfall within 15 minutes, officials said. Two people were injured as parts of their homes collapsed.

Gewal village in Tehri experienced an estimated 110mm of rainfall in 20 minutes, with residents reporting one death. A dozen houses were damaged, but many villagers had already shifted to the upper reaches, realising the rain was abnormally intense.

A cloudburst struck a cluster of villages in the Badeth Dungar Tok area of Rudraprayag, where the rain hadn’t relented even by evening.

Residents claimed two people had died and over 20 were missing. Several houses and vehicles were damaged.

Two bodies were recovered in Simoti, Bageshwar, and three people were injured, Santosh Parihar, a sub-inspector, was quoted as saying. Three houses have collapsed in the village.

Only the Chamoli and Bageshwar administrations had confirmed any deaths by evening.

“Tara Singh and his wife died while Vikram Singh and his wife were injured. There may be 15-20 heads of cattle buried in the mud, gravel and boulders around the village,” Chamoli district magistrate Sandeep Tiwari said.

He said it was “raining continuously across the entire district” and that several roads had been damaged.

Tehri district disaster management officer Brijesh Bhatt said the cloudburst over Gewal had damaged the standing crop and disrupted water and electricity supply. “There is no report of human loss,” he said.

Authorities in Uttarakhand have been acknowledging deaths only when bodies are recovered.

A statement from the state information department said a house and a car had been damaged in Syur village of Rudraprayag, and thatlandslides had blocked the villages of Badeth, Bagardhar and Taljamni.

Rocks and mud have damaged cropfields in Kimada and a fish pond and a hatchery in Arkhund, and buried parts of the Chhenagard market, the statement said.

It added that several people were missing from Jolla Badeth but mentioned no deaths.

Several houses were damaged also in the Kaleshwar area of Karnprayag in Chamoli, where flash floods were followed by landslides.

Officials said mud and rock had invaded many houses. The villagers had left the place on Thursday evening following relentless rain.

SDRF personnel during a search and rescue operation at a cloudburst-hit village, in Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand, Friday, Aug. 29, 2025.

Local sources claimed around 11am that no rescue teams had reached Mopata and Gewala.

In a 7.25am post on X, chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami acknowledged that “some families are stuck in Badeth Dungar Tok” and the “Deval area of Chamoli”, where Mopata falls.

“The rescue operation is in progress on a war footing. I am in touch with the officers…. I pray to Baba Kedar (Kedarnath) for the well-being of all,” he said.

Illegal construction

A local journalist blamed the rise in landslides and flash floods on illegal construction in the fragile mountains — a recurrent theme in a state increasingly battered by calamities.

“Most of the cowsheds and extended houses have been built in the catchment areas of rivers and hilly streams — on encroached land,” he said.

“This was begun by businessmen who came from outside the state to exploit the influx of pilgrims and tourists. They built resorts, guesthouses and restaurants. The local people saw this and began erecting concrete buildings themselves,” he added.

“This has become so rampant in the last 10-15 years that even the government is unable to remove these structures. That’s why Dhami prays to God after every calamity.”

The journalist said a 100-metre stretch of the Gangotri Highway, submerged following August 5 flash floods in Dharali and Harsil in Uttarkashi, hadn’t been reopened yet. This has led to the cancellation of the Gangotri pilgrimage.

A landslide on Thursday morning blocked the Jyotirmath-Niti Malari Highway in Chamoli, which leads to the China border, cutting off 29 villages and leaving the army hamstrung, the journalist added.

“We are witnessing the results of a reckless infrastructure boom in the hills without any impact assessment,” he said.