THE primary trigger for the Uttarakhand disaster following the very heavy rain during June 16-18

was the extremely unusual behaviour of the monsoon this year over north India. The incessant, heavy rainfall over three days, perhaps accompanied by a few cloudburst-type events (which cannot be confirmed), resulted in flash floods and associated landslides. The devastation all round in their wake has been huge but the largest impact has been at the temple town of Kedarnath, which was in the midst of the annual pilgrimage season, with tens of thousands of people thronging the town and the downstream region along the Mandakini river (Picture 1). Rainfall measurements for June 16 and 17 at the Dehradun station, of 220 millimetres and 370 mm respectively, indicate the severity of the rain during these days in the region. Haridwar received 107 mm and 218 mm of rainfall on the two days. Uttarkashi received 122 mm and 207 mm. While Mukteshwar (altitude over 2,000 metres) received 237 mm and 183 mm respectively on June 17 and 18, Nainital on the same days received 176 mm and 170 mm. Though rainfall over a 24-hour period in different parts of Uttarakhand has greatly exceeded these figures in the past (on many occasions above 450-500 mm and once even 900 mm at Rajpur near Dehradun), prolonged heavy rainfall for nearly three days over a large area is perhaps unprecedented, and the cumulative effect, compounded by geophysical, meteorological and environmental factors, may be the reason for the enormity of the disaster. More pertinently, these numbers do not give the actual quantitative picture of the very heavy rainfall in the higher reaches of the Himalayas (above 3,000 m) in Uttarakhand, where Kedarnath, Gangotri and Badrinath are located and where the impact has been most severe. This is because the rain gauge stations of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) are all located largely in the lower Himalayan reaches (below 2,000 m) and there are no stations in the higher reaches (above 3000 m). This is probably because snowfall data is regarded as more important than detailed rainfall data in these regions. As a result, there is no proper estimate of the rainfall in the affected regions. Unexpected advance What was peculiar about the monsoon this year? On June 14, the monsoon front was located over eastern India. In fact it was a trifle sluggish compared with the normal progress of the front (Map 1a). But within a day (Map 1b), the front advanced right across Uttar Pradesh and the western regions to cover the entire country by June 15, exactly a month ahead of its normal date of July 15. While the IMD had forecast a rapid advance with the announcement that the monsoon would strike Delhi before the normal scheduled date of June 30, its advance right across to the west just within a day was entirely unexpected. This has never happened in the past, according to M. Rajeevan, Adviser in the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES). A system of westerly winds from the Arabian Sea had also been active during the same period and had covered Pakistan. It was a strong westerly system, and Rajeevan noted that it was similar to the system that stayed anchored over Pakistan in July 2010 and caused widespread flooding in Sindh, Punjab and Baluchistan. Of course, by July 2010 the south-west monsoon had covered entire India, but this time around the system had formed in June itself.

It was the interaction between the well-formed low-pressure system of the south-west monsoon from east to west and the upper air westerly trough running from north-west Rajasthan to the east that resulted in the heavy rainfall over Uttarakhand. In fact, the westerly system dragged the monsoon trough, which was anchored over Rajasthan and central India until then, towards the north across Haryana. A monsoon trough facilitates the movement of rainfall-causing low-pressure systems along its path. Its rapid movement northwards enabled the low-pressure system that was in the eastern part of the country to quickly traverse and locate itself over north-west India. According to Rajeevan, while the phenomenon of the monsoon trough being dragged northwards by the advancing strong westerly trough is known to occur, the exact dynamics of interaction between the two systems is not well studied. Thus, as the press release of June 20 of the IMD noted, North-west India became the zone of an unusual confluence of the two branches of the monsoonthe Arabian Sea branch and the Bay of Bengal branch. The geology and orography of [the Himalayan regions] of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh resulted in the unprecedented impact in these two States. While the IMD had issued warnings of widespread severe rainfall in the region soon after the observation of the advancing monsoon systems, the scale of impact could not be anticipated. Double whammy Actually, for Kedarnath it was a double whammy. The massive damage caused to Kedarnath town can be seen clearly in the post-flood image. Just as there was an unusual confluence of two monsoon streams up in the atmosphere, in the mountainous terrain around Kedarnath, too, there was a coincidental reinforcing of two massive debris flows from above, one from the north-western side of the Kedarnath temple and the other from the north-eastern side. Petley has analysed these images to arrive at a plausible scenario as to what caused the massive onslaught on the town, virtually flattening it. This flow cascaded further and caused heavy damage downstream as well. The NRSC scientists, too, in their analysis, have come roughly to the same general conclusion. According to Petley, the two different but reinforcing events that caused the disaster were landslide-induced debris that came from the glaciated area in the north-east and a glacial-related flow that originated from the north-west glacier. From the images, one can distinctly identify the two flows. Petley, from his analysis of the images, (http://blogs.agu.org/landslideblog/2013/06/27/new-high-resolution-images-ofkedarnath-the-cause -of-the-debris-flow-disaster-is-now -clear/), has inferred the following: 1. The flow from the north-east came down the margin of the glacier and spread out to strike the town. 2. The north-west flow descended from the other glacier to hit the town. 3. While a large part of the flow from the north-west passed the town on its west side, a part also struck it directly.

On the basis of the pattern of overlay of sediments and their nature, Petley concludes that the flow from the north-west occurred after the one from the north-east. According to him, the debris flow from the north-east was triggered by a large, 75 m wide, landslide caused by heavy rainfall high on the mountains, which then came down the steep slope about 500 m, gathering the debris in its path. The flow was initially channelled into a narrow gully formed by the glacier and on exiting it the flow spread out in the floodplains before striking the town over a large area. The steepness of the slope would have given the debris enormous velocity when it struck the town. The total length traversed by this debris flow is estimated to be about 1,200 m. The event from the north-west was, however, quite different, points out Petley. The spot marked 1 in Picture 7 is a moraine, which had created a block for a basin to form, allowing the water to build up in it as a pool or a lake. This is what the local people call the Chorabari Tal, to which, in fact, pilgrims trek a few kilometres along the west side of the valley to have a dip. The Chorabari glacier has been retreating constantly in modern times, and according to D.P. Dobhal of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, it has retreated about 300 m since 1960.

Origin
From 14 to 17 June 2013, the Indian state of Uttarakhand and adjoining area received heavy rainfall, which was about 375 percent more than the benchmark rainfall during a normal monsoon.
[13] [12]

This caused

the melting of Chorabari Glacier at the height of 3800 metres, and eruption of theMandakini River which led to heavy floods near Gobindghat, Kedar Dome, Rudraprayag district, Uttarakhand,
[14]

Himachal Pradesh and Western Nepal, and acute rainfall in other nearby regions of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and some parts of Tibet.

The upper Himalayan territories of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are full of forests and snowcovered mountains and thus remain relatively inaccessible. They are home to several major and historic Hindu and Sikh pilgrimage sites besides several tourist spots and trekking trails. Heavy rainfall for four consecutive days as well as melting snow aggravated the floods.
[15]

Warnings by the India Meteorological

[16]

Department predicting heavy rains were not given wide publicity beforehand, causing thousands of people to be caught unaware, resulting in huge loss of life and property. In the city of Dehra Dun,
[17]

capital of Uttarakhand, this was the wettest June day for over five decades.

Death and damage[edit source]

Landslides, due to the floods, damaged several houses and structures, killing those who were trapped.
[15] [14]

The heavy rains in large flashfloods and massive landslides.

Entire villages and settlements

[8][18]

such as Gaurikund and the market town of Ram Bada, a transition point to Kedarnath, have been obliterated, while the market town of Sonprayag suffered heavy damage and loss of lives. Pilgrimage

centres in the region, includingGangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath, the hallowed Hindu Chardham (four sites) pilgrimage centers, are visited by thousands of devotees, especially after the month of May onwards. Over 70,000 people were stuck in various regions because of damaged or blocked roads.
[15]

People in other important locations like the Valley of flowers, Roopkund and
[15]

the Sikh pilgrimage centre Hemkund were stranded for more than three days.
[18]

National Highway 58, an

important artery connecting the region was also washed away near Jyotirmath and in many other places. Because summers have more number of tourists, the number of people impacted is
[19]

substantial.

For more than three days, stranded pilgrims and tourists were without rations or survived The roads were seriously damaged at more than 450 places, resulting in huge traffic
[15]

on little food.

[20]

jams, and the floods caused many cars and other vehicles to be washed away.
[21][22][23]

On June 18, more than

12,000 pilgrims were stranded at Badrinath, the popular pilgrimage center located on the banks of the Alaknanda River.
[24]

Rescuers at the Hindu pilgrimage town of Haridwar on the

river Ganga recovered bodies of 40 victims washed down by the flooded rivers as ofJune 21 2013. Bodies of people washed away in Uttarakhand were found in distant places
[25]

like Bijnor,Allahabad and Bulandshahr in Uttar Pradesh.

Damage at Kedarnath town[edit source]

Situated in the Himalayan ranges, the town that grew around the Kedarnath Temple one of the famous temples of Shivain India and part of the Char Dham yatra, was damaged by the floods and landslides caused by heavy rain.

Although the Kedarnath Temple itself had not been damaged, its base was inundated with water, mud and boulders from the landslide, damaging its perimeter.
[22]

Many hotels, rest houses and shops around

the temple in Kedarnath township were destroyed, resulting in several casualties. Most of the destruction at Kedarnath was caused by a sudden rapid melting of ice and snow on the Kedarnath Mountain, 6 km (3.7 mi) from the temple, which flooded the Charbari lake (upstream) and then Kedarnath. Temple was flooded with water resulting in several deaths due to drowning and panic-driven stampede.
[26]

The

Uttarakhand Government announced that due to the extensive damage to the infrastructure, the temple will be temporarily closed to regular pilgrims and tourists for a year or two, but the temple rituals will still be maintained by priests.
[27][28][29]

Even after a week, dead bodies had not been removed from Kedarnath
[30]

town, resulting in water contamination in the Kedarnath valley and villagers who depend on spring water suffered various types of health problems like fever, diarrhoea. images showed one new stream at Kedarnath town. When the flood receded, satellite