JOSHIMATH, India (AP) – Hundreds of rescuers searched mud-filled ravines and valleys across northern India on Tuesday looking for survivors after part of a Himalayan glacier broke off, unleashing a devastating flood that killed at least 31 people and missing 165 .
One of the rescues targets a tunnel at a hydroelectric power plant where more than three dozen workers have been out of contact since the flooding on Sunday. Rescue workers used machine excavators and shovels to remove sludge from the tunnel at night in an attempt to reach the workers as hopes of their survival faded.
The disaster started when part of a glacier on Nanda Devi mountain broke on Sunday morning. Scientists have gone to the site to investigate what caused the rupture and flood – possibly an avalanche or the release of accumulated water. Experts say climate change may be the cause, as warming temperatures shrink glaciers and make them unstable worldwide.
The floodwaters, mud, and boulders roared down the mountain along the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers, breaking dams, sweeping away bridges and forcing the evacuation of many villages, turning the countryside into what appeared to be an ash-colored moonscape.
The flood swept away a small hydroelectric project and damaged a larger one downstream on the Dhauliganga. The two rivers originate in the Himalaya Mountains and meet before merging with the Ganges River.
The power of the roaring wall of water was first noticed by residents of multiple villages on the slopes of the valley.
Rajeev Semwal heard a sound like thundering clouds and then watched the usually blue waters of the Alaknanda turn muddy.
“I understood that a disaster had indeed struck,” said Semwal, a resident of Tapovan village in Uttarakhand state where the power plant is located.
Semwal’s brother-in-law and younger brother both worked in the power plant. His younger brother was in the tunnel that was under water and nothing has been heard of since.
Most of the missing were people working on the two projects, part of many factories that the government has built on several rivers and their tributaries in the mountains of Uttarakhand state.
The ecologically sensitive Himalayan region is prone to flash floods and landslides.
More than 6,000 people are believed to have died in 2013 floods caused by the heaviest monsoon rains in decades.