Sunday’s violent surge below Nanda Devi, India’s second-highest peak, swept away a small hydro electric project called Rishiganga and damaged a bigger one further downstream the Dhauliganga river being built by state-firm NTPC. Most of the missing were people working on the two projects, part of the many the government has been building deep in the mountains of Uttarakhand state as part of a development push. Videos on social media showed water surging through a small dam site, washing away construction equipment and bringing down small bridges. “Everything was swept away, people, cattle and trees,” Sangram Singh Rawat, a former village council member of Raini, the site closest to the Rishiganga project, told local media. It was not immediately clear what had set off the avalanche at this time of year, with freezing temperatures and no rain.

Source: Egypt Independent February 08, 2021 06:45 UTC