Shimla: Samej village, located in the lap of the mountains on the border of Shimla's Rampur and Kullu, has vanished overnight. This village, which had schools, temples, farms, barns and hospitals, turned into a pile of mud after the midnight of 31st July.
When the residents were in deep sleep, a cloudburst and heavy rain caused a flood in the drain adjoining the village. The debris and big rocks carried by the flood wiped out every trace of the village in one night.
Three days have passed since the devastation in Samej village, but there is still no trace of the 36 people missing in the flood. Today, on the fourth day, the rescue and search operation is going on. In which 301 soldiers of NDRF, Police, ITBV, Army and CISF are involved. At the same time, 5 LNT machines have been deployed on the spot.
A village lost in the flood
There were happy families in Samej village, who lived in concrete houses till a few days ago but are now forced to stay in tents. Today they have nothing but tears. Some people in the village who woke up early noticed the flood and ran away to safety. The pictures showing this village before and after the flood are going viral on social media.
Village falls in Kullu-Rampur
Samej village is divided into two parts, Kullu and Shimla's Rampur. The most damage has been done in the area of Rampur, because there is a drain alongside the village. Resident Vipin said that there were about 15 houses in the area of Samej village in Shimla, which were washed away in the flood. Apart from this, there was also a primary health centre here. Now only one house is left here.
Another resident Anita said "She ran away with her children to the jungle at night, where they spent the whole night. When the youth working in the hydro power project were running, she also ran with them to the jungle with her children, due to which the lives of 11 people were saved. They took shelter in a Mata temple in the jungle for the whole night."
At the same time, the village panchayat pradhan said, 'He had received information about this at night, but he reached here in the morning. There used to be multi-storey buildings and farms here, everything was destroyed in one night and the whole area has turned into a pile of mud and rocks.'
What happened
- Cloud burst incident on 31st July at 12:15 am.
- The Panchayat Deputy Pradhan reported the incident at around 3:15 am to the Jhakadi Police Station.
- The police team led by Head Constable Sanjeev left for the scene at 3.30 am.
- At around 3:45 am, SDM Rampur Nishant Tomar received information from Greenko Company.
- At four am, the SDM contacted NDRF, SDRF, paramilitary forces and the police.
- At around 5 am, SDM Rampur left for the spot with his team.
- SDM reached the spot at 5:40 am.
- 10 people were stranded on the other side of the ravine, it took about four hours to rescue them.
- All rescue teams reached the spot around 7 am.
- At around 10:15 a.m., Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap and Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Gandhi reached the scene.
- By 10:30 a.m., the stranded people were rescued.
Search operation in an area of 85 km
Three days have passed since this incident. NDRF teams are searching for the missing people day and night by sifting through the soil and rocks. The hands, shoes and clothes of NDRF personnel are covered in mud, but even after several hours of search, they have only got disappointment. With time, the hope of finding the missing people alive is now almost fading away.
The district administration has divided the disaster-affected area into six parts. NDRF team has been deployed in the first part, Indian Army in the second part, CISF in the third, ITBP in the fourth, police, home guards and quick response teams in the fifth and sixth parts. This search operation is going on in the entire 85-kilometre radius. Shimla District Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap said "Rescue work has to be done in an area of about 85 km here.
