Uttarakhand Live: Met predicts heavy rains in next 72 hours, only 1,000 evacuated

New Delhi:  At mid-day on Monday, the Met department upgraded its weather warning for Uttarakhand from "severe" rain to "very severe" rain in the next three days. Nearly 15,000 people remain stranded today, with rain and new landslides impeding rescue operations. Helicopters have been unable to fly today to many parts of the state. But the Indian Air Force has managed some sorties and has rescued 430 people.

Here are the latest developments in the story:

1. 5,000 pilgrims are stranded in and around the holy town of Badrinath; not a single helicopter has been able to take off so far to help them.
2. Rudraprayag has been lashed by heavy rain. The Army has set up a major base camp in Gauchar, which is 30 km from Rudraprayag. People are being brought here by foot. Overnight landslides have meant that a major route near Rudraprayag, key for evacuations, has been blocked.
3. More than 500 people are stuck at Gaurikund, but efforts to bring them to safety had to be aborted following heavy rains in the region. It has also been raining at Guptkashi and Harsil, where hundreds await help.
4. The Air Force says air rescue efforts are underway wherever possible. It said it wants this message sent to those stranded and their families, "Our helicopter rotors will not stop churning till such time as we get each one of you out. Hang in there, don't lose hope."
5. 670 people are reported dead so far. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde told reporters in Delhi today that the death toll may cross the 1,000 mark after the debris is cleared. Officials warn many more bodies are yet to be pulled out from isolated areas that are completely cut-off.
6. Preparations are underway for a mass cremation in the flood-ravaged holy town of Kedarnath amid concerns of an outbreak of disease from rotting bodies. Large amounts of ghee and wood are to be ferried by helicopter when the weather improves. The cremations will be held over the next few days and priests have been requested to participate in final rites. 
7. A police official who is in charge of organising the mass cremation said that belongings and documents recovered from bodies will be catalogued to help identify them; DNA samples will also be collected.
8. The Met Department has forecast heavy rain over the next four days, but says there will be pockets of clear weather when helicopter rescue sorties can be made.
9. 80,000 people have been evacuated since torrential hit on June 15 in peak tourist season centred on a pilgrimage to four shrines in Uttarkhand.
10. Soldiers along with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police have been using harnesses and erecting rope bridges across flooded rivers as part of efforts to move people to safety.
    
    
    DEHRADUN: Fresh spells of rain and landslidesat a number of places including the higher reaches of Pauri, Chamoli and Rudraprayagdistricts on Monday hit rescue operations inUttarakhand.
    
    At least 10,000 survivors in different parts of the state are still waiting to be rescued.
    
    Not a single chopper has taken off from Sahasradhara helipad since morning to rescue stranded pilgrims at Badrinath and affected pockets adjacent to it.
    
    The same is the situation in Guptkashi and Gauchar from where no helicopter has so far been able to take off because of a thick veil of mist enveloping the area and intermittent rains.
    
    "About 5000 people are yet to be evacuated from Badrinath and not even a single chopper has so far been able to take off from Sahasradhara helipad here to rescue stranded pilgrims at the shrine and affected pockets adjacent to it," said Retd Wing Commander Capt RS Brar, who has been entrusted with the task of overseeing air rescue operations in the affected areas.
    
    "I am myself sitting in an aircraft since morning waiting for the weather to clear up so that we could start our operations," he said.
    
    However, one redeeming fact is that relief material like food packets and medicines have been made available to people stranded at most places including Badrinath, he said.
    
    Reports from Chamoli and Pauri districts said it was raining in the higher reaches hampering chopper operations. The state capital Dehradun was also drenched with rain.
    
    Fresh landslips on Badrinath highway has also choked the route.
    
    Capt Brar said chopper operations will resume the moment the weather improves.
    
    However, he said there is no cause for much worry as teams of doctors besides relief material have reached the affected people who are still stranded.
    
    With inclement weather affecting chopper operations, the state government's plans to launch a final combing operation in the worst-hit Kedarnath Valley in search of possible stranded pilgrims in pockets has also hit a roadblock.
    
    However, official sources said an IAF chopper has been sent from Gauchar to Badrinath axis to assess the weather and find out whether it would be possible to resume rescue operations in the area where the majority of stranded pilgrims are located.
    
    Kedarnath Valley, the temple town which was the epicentre of the floods and landslides, was on Sunday cleared of all stranded pilgrims in stepped up rescue operations.
    
    Disaster management minister Yashpal Arya had on Sunday said that at "At least 5,000 people must have been killed in the deluge that inflicted heavy damage on vast tracts of land especially in Kedarnath valley".
    
    The official death toll as of Saunday was put at 680 while chief minister Vijay Bahuguna said the death toll is likely to be around 1,000.
    
    
    08.50 pm: The met office predicts heavy to very heavy rainfall in Uttarakhand during next 72 hours 
    07.30 pm: The Ministry of Railways has decided that relief material, viz. food, medicines, clothes, building materials, utensils etc, will be carried to Uttarakhand free of cost for a period of 15 days, i.e. from June 25 to July 9. 
    4.49 pm: Relief efforts of all states to be coordinated by the Uttarakhand government, say sources. 
    4.30 pm: No one left in Kedar axis to rescue now, no record of those washed away in flash floods. We have found 269 bodies in Kedarnath Valley, says DIG ITBP 
    4.23 pm: Uttarakhand government rejects 24 choppers offered by Gujarat government for rescue work due to the lack of flying space. The Uttarakhand government says separate relief operations may create confusion. 
    4.05 pm: The rescue and relief operation might get affected as Uttarakhand Met office predicts moderate rains in most parts of the state for the next three days. 
    3.30 pm: According to sources, the Uttarakhand government would not allow any other state unilaterally make rescue efforts in flood-hit areas. They say any state wanting to send chopper would need to come through Uttarakhand govt.
    3.10 pm: The government is likely to declare Uttarakhand disaster a national calamity today. 
    01:55 pm: Bad weather returned to Uttarakhand with fresh spell of rains and landslips in the higher reaches of Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts grounding rescue operations by choppers in the state.
    
    01:14 pm: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to visit flood-hit Uttarakhand today. 
    12:05 pm: UAVs deployed to search for stranded survivors in Uttarakhand, heavy rains lash Dehradun.
    
    11:50 am: Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde says death toll will rise after debris is cleared in Uttarakhand.
    11:15 am: Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice president Rahul Gandhi flagged off relief material for the victims of flash floods in Uttarakhand. 
    10:15 am: Adverse weather conditions have forced the IAF choppers on rescue mission to return to their base.
    
    10:12 am: Intermittent rains have hampered rescue operations in flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand. 
    
    10:04 am: Two major landslides reported between Sonprayag and Phata.
    
    10:00 am: Uttarakhand authorities are trying to arrange for as much as 50 tonnes of wood and as much volume of 'desi ghee' to conduct last rites of those who perished in the deluge at Kedarnath.
    
    09:47 am: All pilgrims rescued from Kedarnath, focus shifts to Badrinath and Harsil.
    
    09:35 am: Met department predicts heavy rainfall for today, rescue operations likely to be hampered.
    
    09:15 am: The DNA of those who died in calamity-hit Uttarakhand and now cannot be identified is being preserved, with officials saying that many of the bodies have decomposed.
    
    08:50 am: Rescue operations intensified after the Met department predicts more rains in Uttarakhand.
    08:45am: IAF begins rescue operations to evacuate stranded people.
    
    08:30 am: Heavy rains likely to lash Uttarakhand on Monday, 19,000 still stranded.
    Should Uttarakhand floods be declared a national calamity? | DNA of unidentified Uttarakhand bodies being preserved | Around 5,000 may have been killed in Uttarakhand, says state minister 
    The rains have returned to Uttarakhand and this poses a challenge for rescuers as 19,000 people are still stranded at various places in the flood-ravaged state.
    The Indian Air Force (IAF) has also suspended its operations for now due to bad weather. The IAF will review the situation. It is raining in Kedarnath, Gaurikund and Guptkashi.
    Latest reports say the death toll has crossed 5,000. Heavy rains have been forecast for the day and it will continue to rain till June 30.
    This is the area specific forecast for the day. Thundershowers are expected in Gangotri on Monday which is expected to get around 30 to 60 mm rainfall.
    Thundershowers are also expected in Yamunotri.
    Meanwhile, the rescue operations have been completed in Kedarnath but the authorities fear that many people may be trapped around the area.
    Heavy rains and thundershowers are also forecast for Badrinath. Around 5,000 people are still stranded in this area.
    In stepped up rescue operations by the Army, ITBP and NDRF amid intermittent rains, more than 3,000 people were rescued from different areas, chief secretary Subhash Kumar told reporters.
    A joint combing operation by the security forces will be launched in Kedarnath Valley on Monday to ensure not a single survivor remains stuck in Rudraparayag district.