Highways closed: Many of tourists, locals and commuters are trapped in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi after the stones and debris fell on the Yamunotri National Highway due to incessant rains in Gangnani area, official informed.

Visuals from the hilly area show many people stranded for hours due to debris. Their vehicles are stuck in the debris giving them harrowing time for hours.

According to the local administration, the highway was closed at many places including Chhatanga, adding that a Tehsildar was sent to take stock of the situation.

Uttarkashi district disaster management officials said that there has been a huge debris and stones on the Yamunotri National Highway due to heavy rains near Gangnani in the Barkot area.

“The school children had to be shifted to safer places as the fresh spell of rain led to waterlogging in Kasturba Gandhi residential school,” they added.

A team each from the State Disaster Response Force team and the fire brigade was rushed to the spot to carry out relief work, they added.

Similarly, Badrinath National Highway near Chamoli district was also blocked in three places due to falling debris as incessant rainfall continued in the region.

As per officials, the incident left a large number of commuters stuck on both sides of the national highway for hours.

“The roadway is blocked due to debris at Nandprayag, Belakuchi, and Pagalnala on the Badrinath National Highway,” Chamoli police said in a tweet on Saturday morning.

In Uttarakhand, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Friday forecasted heavy to very heavy rains accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places over Dehradun, Uttarkashi, Tehri, Pauri and Nainital in the next 24 hours.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday took a stock of the situation and inspected the progress of relief and rescue works in Damkothi in Haridwar district in viwe of waterlogging problems in the area.

He also directed all officials to keep a close watch on the prevailing situation .