The Himalayan states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh were once again ravaged by heavy rain on Tuesday after being hammered by a string of deadly natural calamities over the past couple of months.

At least 15 persons died, 16 were missing and 900 remained stranded in different locations of Uttarakhand on Tuesday.

Over two dozen houses and hotels were washed away in the peripheral areas of Dehradun, raising the fear of more deaths than counted so far.

In neighbouring Himachal, three members of a family were killed as rains triggered massive landslides and flash floods. Torrential waters running through the hilly
slopes swept away cars and damaged houses and commercial establishments.

Rakesh Jawadi, village panchayat chief of Kardigarh in Sahastradhara, the most affected village, said: “It started raining around 11pm on
Monday and the flash floods played havoc soon after midnight. At least three big hotels were washed away, besides eight shops and a dozen residential buildings.”

He said there was no trace of many people who work in the hotels.

“There may have been some tourists in the hotels but we don’t have any confirmation yet,” Jawadi said. “Around 100 villagers are trapped in the flash floods. Many of them climbed electric poles to save themselves. Fellow villagers rescued them before the government’s rescuers arrived in the morning. The public works department is cleaning the area and repairing the damaged roads.”

The Shivling of the Tapkeshwar temple on the banks of the Tamsa river in Dehradun’s Doiwala had been submerged. Most of the snowfed rivers and streams in the two states swelled alarmingly. In Uttarakhand, the Ganga and the Yamuna were flowing close
to the warning level, while
the water level of the Tamsa was precariously close to the danger mark.

The level of half-a-dozen local nallahs in Dehradun, Mussoorie and Rishikesh
rose after the flash floods, damaging the adjoining roads and making the rescue operation difficult.

Sources in the government said at least eight labourers were trapped in a house in Fuleta village, 18km from Dehradun town, when it collapsed during heavy rainfall.

“The rescuers are trying to reach there,” an officer of the state disaster management department said.

The police have urged those living near the banks of the rivers and nullahs to shift to some other areas as the meteorological department has forecast heavy rain till September 23.

Girish Negi, a police officer, said the peripheral areas of Dehradun had been badly affected. “Gushing riverwater has deposited mud and stones at the IT Park on the outskirts of the city.”

Santosh Kumar, a local police inspector, said: “Mud, stones and water have entered the houses of labourers working on a road construction project near Mussoorie. One of them got buried in it.”

A statement from the Uttarakhand government said a student had drowned in the flash flood near DIT University in Makkawala. The student — Mohammad Kaif, 20, of Hapur in Uttar Pradesh — lived in a PG near the campus.

The state information department said teams from the State Disaster Response Force had rescued over 200 students of Dev Bhoomi University in submerged Naugaon.

Uttarakhand has witnessed over a dozen cloudburst-triggered flash floods since June this year.

Himachal capital Shimla has received 141mm of rain in 12 hours since Monday evening, followed by Nagrota Suriyan 135.2mm, Bhattiyat 80mm, Sundernagar 60.5mm, Brahmani 54.4mm, Guler 54.2mm, Mandi 52.6mm and Kangra 50.5mm.

The state has witnessed 46 cloudbursts, 97 flash floods and 140 landslides so far this year.

With 650 roads, including stretches of three national highways closed, 1,250 power transformers and 160 water supply schemes already disrupted, the latest bout of showers has exacerbated the situation.

A flash flood triggered by the downpour submerged the main bus stand in the Dharampur area of Mandi district, washing away several vehicles. Two women and a child died when their house collapsed on them in Bragta village of the district following
a landslide.

Shopkeepers and residents faced heavy losses as floodwaters gushed into their shops, damaging goods and infrastructure. Preliminary estimates suggest losses amounting to several crores. Officials said the rains led to floods in the Son and Bharand streams in Dharampur.