Kedarnath, Badrinath valleys receive early September snow
The Badrinath highway was closed to traffic due to landslides and boulder falls at Kemeda that were triggered by heavy overnight rains, said district disaster management officials
The Badrinath highway in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district was blocked yet again because of heavy rainfall, this time at Kemeda, even as the higher reaches of Kedarnath and Badrinath valleys saw unseasonal snowfall, blanketing the peaks around the two Hindu shrines on Sunday.
“A brief spell of snow was seen at the higher reaches around the Kedarnath shrine, covering the peaks with a blanket of snow,” said Anand Shukla, a priest at the Kedarnath temple in Rudraprayag district.
The Badrinath highway was closed to traffic due to landslides and boulder falls at Kemeda that were triggered by heavy overnight rains, said district disaster management officials. Pilgrims were advised to stay at stopovers on either side of the blocked road.
There is heavy footfall of pilgrims at the Char Dham shrines in the Garhwal Himalayas from May to September. At least 3.9 million pilgrims have visited the four Hindu temples till 10 September 2023 since the start of the yatra in April and over 23,000 pilgrims visited Char Dham shrines on Sunday. The highway to the shrines have seen repeated blockages due to rain- related landslides and rockfall this year.
Officials of the Border Roads Organisation and National Highway Authority of India, state public works department divisionrushed to the spot in Kemeda and were able to open it for traffic at around 10 am on Sunday morning, said NK Joshi, district disaster management officer, Chamoli.
Over 118 roads were blocked due to landslides and boulder falls in the enture state and work was ongoing to clear the roads for traffic, according to the state public works department. In Chamoli district, 14 roads were closed.
In Rudraprayag district, six village roads were blocked, said NS Rajwar, district disaster management officer.
The Dehradun centre of the India Meteorological Department on Sunday issued an orange alert for four districts, including Dehradun, Champawat, Nainital and Uddham Singh Nagar for 13 September and a yellow alert for the remaining districts for the next four days, with a forecast of thunderstorms, lightning and intense rainfall.
The state reported 29 mm of rain in the past 24 hours, the weather bureau said on Sunday morning, with a maximum of 58.3 mm of rain reported from Nainital, followed by 55.6 mm in Champawat and 50.1 mm in Udham Singh Nagar.
