The unprecedented heavy rain in the last 24 hours paralysed normal life in the state today. Many roads were blocked, houses suffered damage and drinking water supply schemes were hit. The Beas and its tributaries are in spate.
The upper reaches of the Dhauladhars and high-altitude areas of Bara Bhangal experienced the first snowfall of the season.
The traffic on the Pathankot-Mandi NH was disrupted following uprooting of trees. The road leading to Jaisinghpur, Chadhiar and Alampur was damaged because of soil erosion and landslides. The road leading to Billing was also blocked at many points. The traffic on the road to Chhota Bhangal was disrupted.
Landslides occurred at numerous places as 272 roads, including 177 in Mandi zone, 48 in Shimla zone, 31 in Kangra zone and 16 in Hamirpur, were blocked. Heavy rain damaged drinking water supply lines in many parts of the region.
The Meteorological Department said it was the beginning of the winter and in the next few days, more snow was expected in the higher hills.
The power supply remained disrupted in some areas of Shimla town as trees uprooted by landslides snapped overhead transmission lines at several places.
Naina Devi was the wettest in the state with 161 mm rain while Arki and Bhoranj received 158 mm and 95 mm rain, followed by Dalhousie 89 mm, Sundernagar 79 mm, Dharamsala 70 mm, Kangra 63 mm, Baldwara 64 mm , Kheri 62 mm, Jhandutta 56 mm, Aghar 53 mm, Sujanpur Tira 51 mm, Bijahi 49 mm, Shimla 48 mm, Karsog 47 mm, Chamba 45 mm, Bharari 44 mm, Nahan 42 mm, Bilaspur 41 mm, Manali 40 mm, Solan and Berthin 35 mm, Palampur and Jubbal 29 mm, Baijnath 28 mm, Banjar 27 mm, Jubbarhatti and Sarahan 26 mm, Gaggal and Hamirpur 24mm and Kufri and Fagu 22 mm.
The region received 447.9 mm average rain against normal rainfall of 587.9 mm from June 1 to August 21, reducing the rain deficit to 24 per cent.
The local MeT office has issued yellow warning of heavy rains in mid and lower hills on August 25 and predicted rains and thundershowers in mid and lower hills and rains and snow in higher hills for the next six days from August 22 to August 27.
Five of family buried, saved
- Five members of a family were buried under debris on Thursday evening when a house collapsed due to heavy rain at Chhalki village in Nachan, Mandi district
- Soon after the incident, nearby villagers rushed to rescue the victims and after a long struggle took out all five members of the family safely out of debris.
Source : The Tribune