Uttarakhand: Breach in Sonali River raises threat of floods in Haridwar's Laksar town

Jul 12, 2023

Haridwar (Uttarakhand) [India], July 12 : Amid persistent rainfall and a breach in the  Sonali River dam has raised a threat of floods in the Laksar town of Uttarakhand's Haridwar district, officials said on Wednesday.
According to officials, the Sonali River dam breached near village Kuan Kheda.
Laksar Police Station in-charge Amarjit Singh along with his team immediately reached the spot and alerted the people after receiving information about the breach of the dam.
"The Sonali river flowing through dozens of villages of Laksar swelled. As a result, the Sonali River dam broke down near Kuan Kheda village. As soon as the dam broke, the water of the river started flowing on the other side," they said.
Earlier today, the Kedarnath Yatra was stopped at Uttarakhand's Sonprayag and Gaurikund due to continuous heavy rains.
Keeping in view the safety of the passengers, the district administration stopped the passengers at Sonprayag and Gaurikund due to continuous bad weather.
Due to rain, four state roads and 10 link roads were closed due to debris. Due to heavy rains, Mandakini and Alaknanda rivers are in spate, the officials said.
Amid the heavy rains in Uttarakhand, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert for July 12 on Monday."Orange Alert: #Uttarakhand and adjoining areas of Western #UttarPradesh likely to get Heavy to Very heavy rainfall (115.6 to 204.4mm) on 12th July", IMD shared in a tweet.
"A red alert has been issued in four districts. We are in alert mode. The CM also took the review yesterday. Only one unfortunate incident has taken place in which fourpeople died and seven were injured. Rest everything is under control. We are continuously working to ensure the safety of people," Disaster Management Secretary Ranjit Sinha said. 
Earlier, four persons died and 10 people were injured due to falling debris on Gangotri National Highway near Gangnani in Uttarakhand.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Tuesday said that the state administration is on full alert mode in view of the India Meteorological Department's (IMD) heavy rainfall alert in the region.