2013 Floods, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, North India

The states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are relatively remote and full of forests, hill ranges and snow-covered peaks. They are home to several pilgrimage sites and tourist attractions of the country. On 17 June 2013 the state of Uttarakhand received more than 340 millimetres (13 in) of rainfall, which is 375 percent above the normal benchmark of 65.9 mm rainfall during a normal monsoon. This cloudburst caused heavy floods in Uttarakhand as well as the neighbouring state of Himachal Pradesh. In the city of Dehra Dun, capital of Uttarakhand, this was the wettest day during the month of June in over five decades. Heavy rainfall for four consecutive days as well as melting snow during summer aggravated the floods further. Weather warnings about the heavy rains were not given wide publicity beforehand by the Government agencies and the India Meteorological Department. This caused thousands of people to be caught unaware in the rain-hit hilly areas of Uttarakhand, resulting in huge loss of life and property.
Death and damage
Landslides, caused due to the floods, damaged several houses and structures, killing those who were trapped. Because of the landslides and rains, over 164 houses collapsed. The Mandakini river, a tributary of the Ganges, washed down 40 hotels near Gaurikund, a populated region near the Kedarnath Temple. Pilgrimage centres in the region, including Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath are visited by thousands of devotees, especially after the month of May onwards. About 73,000 people were stuck in various regions because of damaged or blocked roads. People in other important locations like the Valley of flowers, Roopkund and the Sikh pilgrimage centre Hemkund were stranded for more than three days in remote regions. An important road for the region, NH58 was also washed down near Jyotirmath. Because the month of June is a busy tourist season, the number of people stranded increased considerably. . For more than two days, the stranded tourists and pilgrims in various remote areas of the region were without food supplies. The roads were seriously damaged at more than 450 places, resulting in huge traffic jams, and the floods caused many cars and other vehicles to be washed away. On 18 June, more than 12,000 pilgrims were stuck at Badrinath, the popular pilgrimage center located on the banks of the Alaknanda River. The main market at Rambada, a hamlet on the way to Kedarnath, was washed out due to rain and the market of Soneprayag was heavily damaged. The police outpost at Rambada hamlet vanished and two policemen and three ITBP troopers died in Uttarakhand.