Climate Change In Kedarnath

Heavy rains started in Kedarnath Valley on 15th June 201. The people there had never seen such rain before. The rain continued on 16 June as well. During this, the lakes built on the mountains around Kedarnath were filled with water and the glaciers also started melting. There was a huge crowd of pilgrims, and priests among others in Kedarnath and they were waiting for the rain to stop but no one knew what was going to happen on the evening of June 16. It was evening in Kedarnath and it was raining. The Mandakini River originating from Kedarnath has two flood plains. For many decades, the Mandakini was flowing only in the eastern channel. People felt that now the Mandakini would just keep flowing in a stream. When the flood occurred in Mandakini, it also increased in its old path the western channel. Due to this all the constructions built in his path were washed away. Landslides started due to heavy rain and cloudburst in the mountains for two days. On the night of 16 June 2013, at around 8:30 pm, a landslide occurred in Kedarnath and a large amount of water accumulated in the mountains along with the debris moved towards the Kedarnath valley at a high speed and touched the settlement. Those who got swept away were washed away, but many people who survived in this narrowly started running here and there to save their lives.

The city situated around the Kedarnath temple was surrounded by roaring rivers from all sides. Fearing death, people could not understand anything and waited for the dawn. But they had no idea that they had suffered the first blow of the flood, something worse was about to happen in the morning. The rivers flowed with roar throughout the night from around the Kedarnath colony. People were looking for a way to escape. They were in panic but these people trapped in Kedarnath were waiting for the rain to stop. It rained continuously throughout the night. Suddenly amidst the terrible roar of Mandakini, the stone embankment on one side of Chorabari Tal broke with a loud sound and doom came. Kedarnath got into the soil in five to ten minutes. The pieces of liver kept flowing before his eyes and disappeared in the flood. They were holding hands to save each other but the power of the flood far exceeded the strength of their relationship strings. Within minutes, hundreds of families were destroyed. Several members of a family went missing. The flood passed through the orgy of death but the rain did not stop. The survivors in Kedarnath waited for the rain to stop and the weather cleared.

By: - Srishti Rathod