Heavy rains trigger roadblock, landslides in Himachal Pradesh

Heavy rains lashed several parts of Himachal Pradesh today triggering landslides, blocking roads and interrupting water and power supply. Kiratpur-Manali and Hindustan–Tibet national highways were closed due to landslides and scores of vehicles remained stranded on either side of the blockades, while numerous incidents of trees being uprooted and landslides were reported from interior and rural areas.

The Kiratpur-Manali highway remained blocked for about 12 hours at Hanogi, midway between Mandi and Kullu, while the Hindustan-Tibet highway, which was blocked due to flooding of Broni Nalla near Jhakri, 150 km from here, was opened after four-and-a-half hours.

The rains have claimed 22 lives and about 80 animals so far, besides causing loss to property, roads and crops to the tune of Rs 203 crore. The rains damaged the water supply pipeline at Nahan, while uprooted trees disrupted power supply in parts of Shimla town and inundated the low-lying areas at some places in Hamirpur district.

About 120 roads were blocked in the state and efforts were on to clear them by tomorrow. As many as 21 JCB machines and other earth-removing machineries have been deployed, said DD Sharma, Special Secretary,



Disaster management.

The water level in the major rivers and their tributaries has increased but the monsoon rain deficit, from June 1 to August 1, was still 25 per cent.

Dharamsala, Nahan and Renuka received 194, 145 and 100 mm of rains respectively, while Dharampur and Jogindernagar received 97 mm of rains each, followed by Kasauli (89), Jubbar Hatti (79), Shimla (79), Hamirpur (74), Pandoh (70), Pachhad (64), Gaggal (63), Arki (54), Palampur (53), Mashobra (50), Bijahi (44) and Naina Devi (41 mm).

There was no significant change in maximum temperatures while the minimum temperatures rose marginally.

Una was the hottest place in teh state with a high of 34.8 degrees Celsius, while Bhuntar and Sundernagar recorded maximum temperatures of 32.8 and 31.9 degrees Celsius respectively, followed by Dharamsala (28.2), Solan (24), Nahan (23.7), Kalpa (23.6) and Shimla (20.4 degrees Celsius).

The minimum temperatures stayed close to normal and Kalpa, Shimla, Manali and Keylong recorded a low of 14, 15.9, 16 and 16.1 degrees Celsius respectively.

The MeT office has forecast rains or thundershowers at many places in lower, mid and higher hills over the next six days.