As he watched no one turning up at his hotel on Tuesday, Jai Bhagwan, a hotelier at Dharali, decided to go to the temple nearby for a festival commemorating the naag devta.
Some distance away from the market, the temple was one of the structures unharmed in the floods. Around 1.40 am on Tuesday, Bhagwan was attending the mela when a commotion was heard. “First, there was a thunderous sound, and then I heard people screaming from the village nearby. They were whistling too, but we were clueless. Then came massive waves of mud, water, and rocks,” he recalled.
Dharali village was struck by flash floods and mudslides, taking with it buildings in the market in the village. As operations continued to search for those missing, estimated to be over 60, the government said two bodies were retrieved so far.
Bhagwan’s four-storey hotel was one of the structures swept away in the deluge. “We did not immediately understand what was happening. I tried to rush to my home, some metres away, but in 20 minutes, the water reached our house,” Bhagwan said. He later rushed to Harsil on foot.
He saw the video much later, and the magnitude of the incident dawned on him. “In the video, my hotel is seen being washed away. It was a 40-room hotel, but it flowed away like a leaf,” he said.
He spent the next few hours after fleeing from Dharali calling his family members, ensuring their safety. “I could contact them till 4 pm on Tuesday, after which they became unavailable,” he said. Bhagwan said that most hotels were empty due to the lull in tourism in the monsoon season, and the market had fewer people on the day the tragedy struck. “In other months, my hotel is completely booked when the Char Dham yatra is going on. Even my staff and nephew, who manages the hotel, were not present, fortunately,” Bhagwan said.
Rescuers say there is 50-60 feet of muck, almost like quicksand, at the site, which is near-impossible to move without heavy machinery.
