Thousands Stranded as Floods Wreck North India

Strdel/Agence France-Presse â€" Getty Images Rescued pilgrims meeting their family members after arriving in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, on Wednesday.

The death toll from flash floods in northern India rose to over 150 on Thursday, with 50,000 Hindu pilgrims still stranded across the mountainous state of Uttarakhand.

Indian television networks aired footage of the pilgrim destination of Kedarnath in Uttarakhand, which was completely submerged.

Despite incessant rain and landslides between 13,000 and 15,000 pilgrims have reportedly been evacuated from the affected sites in Uttarakhand.

The Indian Army has been sent to help with the rescue operatins, but the evacuation of pilgrims has been hobbled by the destruction of roads and the lack of safe landing pads for helicopters.

Jenita Mehta, a 24-year-old I.T. professional from Mumbai, was one of several thousands pilgrims who had been stranded on the way to Badrinath, a pilgrimage site on a mountain in Uttarakhand. One of the scariest parts of her experience was the several fear-filled hours she spent in a bus near a pilgrim town as boulders rolled down the mountain.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, the Congress Party president, conducted an aerial survey of the affected areas Wednesday, which the prime minister described as “distressing” in a statement.

The prime minister announced on Thursday it would provide 200,000 rupees ($3,350) to families of those who died in the floods and 50,000 rupees for the injured. He also announced federal assistance of 10 billion rupees for the state. “The immediate need is for rescue and relief! operations, and the government will not spare any effort in this regard,” Mr. Singh said in a television broadcast.

However, Ms. Mehta blamed the state authorities for being sluggish in informing the pilgrims about the onset of the flood.

Indian Army/European Press photo Agency A rescue operation led by the Indian army in progress in Uttarakhand on Tuesday.

The pilgrim town of Rudraprayag serves as the gateway to several major Hindu pilgrimage destinations, like Kedarnath, Badrinath, Joshimath. Badrinath, which is about 157 kilometers (100 miles) from Rudraprayag, is home to one of the hliest shrines of Hinduism, dedicated to Lord Vishnu.

Ms. Mehta was on a four-stop pilgrimage known as the Chardham Yatra, covering the sacred Himalayas sites of Yamunotri, Gangotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath.

“The floods had already hit Kedarnath when we reached Badrinath, and landslides on the way to the temple. I wonder why the police and tourism officials at Rudraprayag failed to inform us,” Ms. Mehta said.

On their way back from the Kedarnath temple, while spending a night at a village on the banks of the Ganges, she and her fellow pilgrims had a close call. The rising water levels of the Ganges were about to submerge the cottages they were staying in when a security guard alerted them, Ms. Mehta said.

The engorged river chased after the pilgrims. “When we looked back, our cottages had disappeared,” she said.

The fragile ecosystem of the mountainous pilgrim towns has been straining under the increasing number of pilgrims. In the past two decades, along with the! growing ! economy, India has also witnessed an increase in religiosity. Meera Nanda, a historian and philosopher of science, said in her book, “The God Market,” that religious pilgrimages accounted for more than half of all package tours in India.

The number of tourists coming to Uttarakhand from 2001 to 2010 has increased from 10 million to 30 million, according to government statistics.

Hotels and restaurants have covered the clearings of the pilgrim towns in response to the increase in tourists. “These buildings are constructed very close to the channel of the river,” said K.S. Valdiya, a geologist and honorary professor at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research in Bangalore.

Up in the mountains, Ms. Mehta had befriended an American couple who was headed to Kedarnath. Shortly after she had bid farewell to her American friends, Kedarnath was covered by water.

Thousands were headed uphill at that moment, Ms. Mehta said. “I am praying that they are safe,” she said