A massive landslide on the Badrinath National Highway near the Patalganga Langsi tunnel in Chamoli district on Wednesday afternoon blocked traffic for hours.

It was one of many landslides – big and small – that have been reported from Uttarakhand over the last few days as the state has been hit by heavy rainfall amid the bypolls for the Badrinath and Manglaur Assembly seats.

The Chamoli district police’s X (formerly Twitter) handle released footage of massive chunks of rock sliding down the mountain, with a huge cloud of dust covering the rest of the mountain.

“Because of a landslide near the Patalganga Langsi tunnel traffic along the Badrinath National Highway has been blocked,” the Chamoli police said in their post.

On Friday, part of the Badrinath Highway was blocked as debris piled up on the Bhanerpani-Pipalkoti Naga Panchayat road and Angthala road following landslides.

The Rishikesh-Chamba-Dharasu national highway 94 in Tehr district was blocked near the Ananda hotel on the Narendra Nagar bypass road, and the Rishikesh-Badrinath national highway was blocked near Jogidhara, along with at least 200 other motorable roads in different parts of the region.

Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami took an aerial survey of the flood-affected areas in Kumaon region on Tuesday.

District officials are yet to release any statement on Wednesday’s landslide that has affected traffic movement along the highway.

Over the last few days, the India Meteorological Department had issued warning of extremely heavy rainfall in the state, especially in Chamoli, Rudraprayag and Pauri districts. The Char Dham Yatra which was suspended for a day last week had resumed from Monday.

The Alaknanda river is flowing near the danger mark at Vishnu Prayag near Joshimath, where the river merges with the Dhauli Ganga.

Two biker tourists from Hyderabad were killed on Saturday after being hit by boulders while returning from Badrinath following a landslide at the Chatwapeepal area of Karnaprayag in Chamoli district.

The body of a 17-year old girl who had slipped into a stream on Monday while bathing near the Lal Pul in Dehradun’s Patel Nagar was found on Tuesday.

In the floodwaters in Haldi village of Udham Singh Nagar district, two men drowned while trying to evacuate a family stranded in their home.

So far, the National Disaster Response Force have shifted 1,821 residents from their inundated homes in Sitarganj and Khatima in Udham Singh Nagar and Purnagiri of Champawat district.