At least 180 people are missing and 14 have died in northern India after part of a Himalayan glacier fell into a river sending a devastating avalanche of water, dust and rocks down a mountain gorge, and crashing though a dam.
Footage from Sunday’s disaster shows a fast-moving wall of water and rocks barreling down a narrow gorge and smashing through a dam at the smaller hydroelectric project before surging downstream, wiping out buildings trees and people.
debris all came down and flooded the power project here,” said Kumar, the Uttarakhand police official.
Sunday’s floods brought back memories of a similar devastating incident in 2013, when the state was hit by what was dubbed by the area’s chief minister as a “Himalayan tsunami. ”
Nearly 6,000 people lost their lives those floods.
The state’s chief minister said 35 people were working at the plant when the waters hit, and “roughly 29 to 30 people are missing. ”
Rising waters prompted authorities to issue urgent evacuation notices to people living further down the Alaknanda River.
