Dharali Cloudburst: Know Its Location, Population, and How to Reach It

A huge cloudburst in Uttarakhand on Tuesday afternoon caused flash floods that buried or washed away vast portions of the village of Dharali, which is located along the Bhagirathi river along National Highway 34, which leads to the Hindu shrine of Gangotri Dham in Uttarakhand.

There were multiple people reported missing and at least four confirmed dead in this cloudburst.

It is currently impossible to comment on the casualties because so much property has been wrecked. Vinay Shankar Pandey, the commissioner of the Garhwal division, stated, "Our army team, which is in Harsil, has arrived at the location." He further informed the news agency ANI in the state capital of Dehradun that officials from the health department and disaster response squads have arrived at the scene.

Where is Dharali?

Dharali is one of the final destinations close to the highway's endpoint to Gangotri, where the Bhagirathi River, which is regarded as the Ganga's sacred source stream, flows.

Dharali is in Uttarkashi district, within the Dharali gram panchayat, and is under the Rajgarhi tehsil and Naugaon block. The settlement covers 164.96 hectares of land, according to government data. Situated on the well-traveled path to Gangotri, one of the Char Dham pilgrimage sites, Dharali is famous for its scenic surroundings and apple orchards. The community has little access to emergency infrastructure, making it susceptible to severe weather disasters despite its spiritual and tourism value.

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Population of Dharali

According to official records, there are 505 people living in Dharali, distributed across 85 families. With 256 men and 249 women, the village's sex ratio is 973, which is marginally higher than the 963 state average for Uttarakhand. In addition, the town has 53 children between the ages of 0 and 6, and its child-to-sex ratio is 963, which is higher than the state average of 890.

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How to Reach Dharali?

Situated in the Naugaon block of the Uttarkashi district, Dharali is around 250 kilometers from Dehradun and can be reached by car in eight hours. Gangotri, which is less than 20 kilometers from the village, is a part of the Char Dham Yatra, which also includes the Himalayan sites of Yamunotri, Kedarnath, and Badrinath.

Impact of Clouburst in Dharali

Following the cloudburst, Dharali villagers said that 10–12 people might be buried beneath rubble and that 20–25 hotels and homestays might have been wiped away. Videos taken at the scene showed the village being flooded, causing damage to buildings and forcing residents to evacuate to higher ground.

The SDRF, Army, and local government are conducting rescue operations. People have been advised by the Uttarakhand Police to exercise caution in the impacted regions and to avoid the riverbanks.