Back in city, flood survivors recount harrowing times

Even as the death toll in Uttarakhand continues to rise and thousands remain missing, some of the Delhiites who have survived the Himalayan tragedy, recount their horror.  

“It is an ordeal that I will never forget for the rest of my life. We saw corpses and carcases flowing with the river,” said Rakesh Sadhu, 45, who returned to Delhi on Friday after being stuck at Devaprayag since Saturday.

Sadhu, along with seven members of his family, had gone for the Char Dham yatra, only to return back from the foot of the mountains.
 
“It is an ordeal that I will not forget for the rest of my life. Rains, landslides, mud, silt, people shouting all over. It was like the dance of death,” added his wife Namrata.

The Sadhus, who live in Punjabi Bagh in the Capital, drove all the way up to Devaprayag. “When we were driving up, we saw the tress, forests, houses and roads, but on our way down as we followed the other vehicles there was destruction all over,” said Namrata.

With all the roads blocked, the Sadhus stayed closely with the other pilgrims for three days, before driving their way back. “The drive from Haridwar to Delhi took us more than 10 hours. There was a massive traffic jam on the entire stretch,” added Sadhu.

Angry survivors also lashed out at the government for delays in rescue operations.  For  Kailash Chand Soni, who was stuck with his wife, their three children and his mother-in-law at Gauri Kund since Monday, said the State had “absolutely failed to help.”

“We were stuck for five days without any shelter, food or even adequate drinking water. We were able to get just about one meal a day. And there were so many people but not enough arrangement to bring them back. There were dead bodies floating all around us. Scenes of death and destruction was all one could see for kilometres there,” Soni said. “We finally managed to find a taxi that was willing to get us back,” he added.