PremiumThe Char Dham Yatra to Kedarnath was also halted on Monday amid gusty winds, heavy rain and snowfall in Uttarakhand even as the pilgrimage to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Hemkund Sahib, and Badrinath continued as usual
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NEW DELHI : As heavy rainfall engulfs the northern part of India, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued an orange alert on 24 and 25 May for Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
The northern Hills have been put on alert for heavy rainfall.
"In the hills like Himachal Pradesh, Uttrakhand and Jammu and Kashmir we have kept an orange level warning because the convection is higher today," Senior Scientist RK Jenamani told news agency ANI.
An orange alert is issued when there is isolated heavy to very heavy rainfall consecutively for three days.
Earlier, there has been snowfall in the higher region like Dhauladhar and others.
The officials also informed that the orange warning for Delhi, Punjab and Haryana was later converted into a yellow warning after a decrement in the situation.
Char Dham Yatra to Kedarnath halted amid heavy rain
The Char Dham Yatra to Kedarnath was also halted on Monday amid gusty winds, heavy rain and snowfall in Uttarakhand even as the pilgrimage to Gangotri, Yamunotri, Hemkund Sahib, and Badrinath continued as usual.
The district administration cited the pilgrims’ safety and stopped the yatra for the Kedarnath shrine at Rudraprayag.
District disaster management officer NK Rajwar said due to the heavy rain, the pilgrims, who have arrived in Ukhimath, Sonprayag and Gaurikund, were asked to stay there until further announcement as winds, thunderstorms and lightning pose a risk to them on their way to Kedarnath.
Over 10,000 pilgrims were waiting for the yatra to resume. “We were heading for Kedarnath but the administration did not allow us to go ahead citing heavy rains...we stayed at a hotel in Rudraprayag," said Vimla Shekhawat, a pilgrim from Rajasthan.