Snow avalanche hits Sumeru Parvat area in Kedarnath Valley
No loss of life or property was reported due to the avalanche and no significant change in the river’s water level was observed during the incident
An avalanche hit glacier above Gandhi Sarovar Lake in Sumeru Parvat area, over seven kilometres from Kedarnath shrine, leaving behind plumes of powdery snow early morning on Sunday. No loss of life or property was reported due to the avalanche, said disaster management authorities in Rudraprayag.
According to the district emergency control centre Rudraprayag, the avalanche was reported near the source of Saraswati River at 5am on Sunday. No significant change in the river’s water level was observed during the incident. Last year in September, a snow avalanche rocked Sumeru Mountain in the Kedarnath Valley leaving behind plumes of powdery snow.
Local residents and devotees quickly recorded the video of the avalanche on their mobile phones as the plume of snow from the glacier darted down over nearly a minute.
Yogendra Singh, chief executive officer of the Badrinath Kedarnath Temple Committee said, “The avalanche struck far away from the Kedarnath temple in the snow-clad peaks of Sumeru mountains and no loss of life or property was reported due to the incident.”
“The snow avalanche is a common occurrence during the rainy season when the fresh snow that is heavy due to excessive moisture comes down in powdery plumes after heavy rain and snow,” he added.
Anand Shukla, temple priest at Kedarnath, said, “The incident occurred at around 5am and we saw the plume of snow breaking away from the glacier in the form of an avalanche on Sunday.”
Sumer Singh, who sells tea and mineral water bottles to the pilgrims on the Kedarnath Yatra route, said, “The avalanche hit early morning leaving behind a cloud of snow. Many devotees kept looking at the spectacle and some even recorded it on their mobile phones”.
Mangal Singh, a devotee from Alwar in Rajasthan said, “We were heading for the temple for darshan early morning when we saw an avalanche hit the mountains away from the temple in the high snow-clad peaks of Sumeru Parvat. And many of us were quick to record the incident on our mobile phones on Sunday.”
On May 3 last year, Kuber glacier broke off on the 16-km Kedarnath Dham trek route, 3 km ahead of the Kedarnath shrine. The Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel rescued four Nepalese porters who were trapped in the glacier breakage area. On May 4, again a glacier broke off at Bhairav Padav nearly 3 km ahead of the Kedarnath shrine in Rudraprayag district. On 9 June 2023, a snow avalanche hit Chorabari Glacier area in Kedarnath Valley, leaving behind clouds of powdery snow.
Located at a height of nearly 3,500 metres above sea level, the Kedarnath Dham is located near the Mandakini River in the Rudraprayag district. The 16 trek for Kedarnath Dham starts from Gauri Kund. The shrine was the worst affected area during the 2013 flash floods, with Kedarnath town suffering extensive damage.