66 missing a week after flash floods devastate Uttarakhand village

At least 66 people remain missing a week after flash floods and a massive mudslide engulfed parts of the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, officials confirmed on Tuesday.

The state government’s revised figures show that only one body has been recovered so far, overturning an earlier death toll of four.

The disaster struck on 5 August when heavy monsoon rains triggered flooding and a mudslide that submerged nearly half of Dharali village in Uttarkashi district.

An army camp located near the village also sustained extensive damage, complicating rescue efforts in the remote Himalayan region. Search teams, comprising disaster response forces, army personnel, and local volunteers, are continuing to comb through debris in the hopes of locating survivors or recovering bodies.

Rescue work has been hampered by persistent bad weather, with more rainfall forecast, and by the closure of a key highway leading to the affected area due to landslide debris.

Uttarkashi, one of the districts worst affected by this season’s flooding, has endured weeks of relentless rain.

According to officials, around 1,300 people have been evacuated from areas near Dharali since the disaster, with temporary shelters set up to house displaced residents.

Authorities have warned that the search could stretch on for weeks given the scale of destruction and the difficult terrain.

The disaster is the latest in a series of deadly monsoon events to strike Uttarakhand, a state that has long been prone to flash floods and landslides during the rainy season.