Nine people are confirmed dead and at least 140 are missing in the Indian state of Uttarakhand after a glacier broke free from a Himalayan mountain and released a massive torrent of water that wiped out everything downstream, the Associated Press reports.
The massive wave of water and mud left the landscape a disaster, turning an otherwise lush mountainside into a gray dystopia. The water wiped out a hydroelectric dam and destroyed another one under construction. The water was being contained by the Nanda Devi glacier feeds the Alaknanda and Dhauliganga rivers. At the site of the hydroelectric dam project on the Dhauliganga was destroyed, 42 workers being trapped in construction tunnels. Another 140 workers were missing. More than 2,000 members of the Indian military were dispatched to the area for search-and-rescue and emergency services.