Mussoorie-Doon road blocked for three hours

Tribune News Service

Mussoorie, July 2

Heavy rains continued in the region resulting in landslides blocking roads and causing a great deal of inconvenience to tourists and instilling fear among them.

The Mussoorie-Dehradun road was shut for nearly three hours as landslides and mud debris accumulated on it at several places after overnight heavy rains that continued the whole day today.

The sidewalls of a house at Zyphyre Hall caved in, posing danger that it may collapse in case of more rains.

At Kempty Fall, tourists enjoying in the spring had a narrow escape as the water swelled to a dangerous level, forcing people to run for safety. Local residents said they had never witnessed such a gush of water in Kempty Fall in their whole life.

Ravinder, a tourist from Noida, said, “We arrived at Kempty early morning and were planning to go into the small pool around the fall when suddenly heavy rains led to large volumes of water gushing towards us. We left everything there and ran for cover. The Kempty Fall area was empty within 15 minutes as tourist fearing for their lives returned to their hotels in Mussoorie.

The Mussoorie-Kempty-Yamunotri road was also blocked due to landslides at several places and commuters themselves removed uprooted trees to open the road.

Tehri district administration officials said JCB machines had started clearing the debris of the road.

The Mussoorie-Dehradun Road was blocked for more than three hours due to a landslide near Kolhukhet. The outbound tourists had a harrowing experience as they had to wait amid heavy rains.

The road was also blocked near Chuna Khala, Shiva temple and Bhatta village. The road near Sanjha Darbar was also closed for a brief moment as the sidewalls caved in due to heavy rains. Several electricity poles and trees were uprooted at several places. PWD, electricity and other department officials and disaster rescue teams rushed to the spot to assist in clearing the road for smooth traffic. Tourists remained huddled in their hotel rooms at Mussoorie due to heavy rains that continued the whole day.