Weather Update: Rain wreaks havoc in Himachal again

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weather update heavy rainfall

Shimla: Amidst the red alert in Himachal Pradesh, the heavy rains on Tuesday night and Wednesday have again created havoc. Due to bad weather, 11 people including a child have died in the state. Six people are also missing.

The couple died in Shimla’s Baldeyan. A gate has fallen on a five-year-old child in Junga. Eight people lost their lives in Mandi including maternal grandfather, grandmother and niece. The school building at Kuklah in Mandi and 50 goats and two dozen cattle at Kholanala were washed away in the flood.

1,366 bus routes and 636 drinking water schemes stalled

17 houses collapsed in the state, while 105 were damaged. Torrential rain and thunder have scared people in the capital Shimla. Most of the people of the city spent Tuesday night awake.

There has been a loss of lakhs of rupees due to the fire caused by lightning on the hotel in Mandi. Five houses were washed away in Kashod Gram Panchayat of the district.

Till Wednesday evening, 709 roads including five national highways remained closed in the state. 1,366 bus routes and 636 drinking water schemes remained disrupted.

Heavy devastation in the Seraj area

Tej Singh was crushed to death when debris fell on his house in Jhaut village of Anah panchayat in the Seraj area.

He was in the back room of the house and the rest of the family living in the front room had gone out. On the other hand, Nok Singh (22) of Bada Bunad village in Kuklah was crushed to death due to the collapse of the cow shed.

Woman Lachhami Devi (52) wife Tullu Ram died after being washed away in a drain in Arnehad Sanglehad village of Kotla Command in Mandi.

The woman was diverting the water of the drain from going towards the house when she slipped and died due to flowing in the strong water of the drain.

Cracks in houses

The Sharti school of Gram Panchayat Khahri has also been damaged. In Shahnu and Chhamar also, cracks have appeared in the houses of the people. District Kullu has once again been cut off from the country and the world.

After the closure of the Kullu-Mandi-Chandigarh highway, now all the three alternate routes have also been blocked due to heavy rains on Tuesday night.

Landslides have also blocked the alternate routes of Kullu-Mandi via Pandoh, Kullu-Mandi via Kamand and Kullu-Pandoh-Chalchowk-Gohar-Sundernagar. Hundreds of vehicles are stuck in Bajaura.

Parwanoo-Shimla fourlane remained disrupted throughout the day

Five-year-old Harshit Sharma’s son Narayan Dutt Sharma, who was playing there, died on the spot when an under-construction gate collapsed at Dumaihar in Peeran panchayat of Mashobra block in district Shimla.

The incident came to light on August 22 at around 4 pm. Shimla-Rampur National Highway was also disrupted due to rain on Wednesday morning.

Traffic remained disrupted on the Parwanoo-Shimla four-lane throughout the day. Baddi-Pinjore main road has been closed due to breaking of a pillar of the bridge.

Vehicles bound for Chandigarh were diverted via Dheronwal Marg. On the Subathu-Kunihar road, two cars were saved from being swept away by a drain near Thadi. Two houses have also collapsed in Subathu’s Naya Nagar and Deothi.

This national highway is also closed

On the other hand, Manali-Chandigarh, Mandi-Pathankot, and Jalandhar-Mandi NH have also been closed. Due to a landslide in Kotla of district Kangra, houses were filled with water and mud up to one feet.

Seven houses have been declared unsafe. 30 houses have been evacuated. Pathankot-Mandi NH nearly 32 mile remained closed for two hours in the morning.

Two people trapped in the strong current of water in Jabbar Khad of Jasur have been rescued after a rescue operation that lasted for four hours. Due to heavy rains on Wednesday, air services were stalled in the state.

Three flights have been canceled at Gaggal Airport. SpiceJet, Indigo and Alliance Air flights did not reach Gaggal on Wednesday morning. Air services could not take place from Shimla’s Jubbarhatti and Bhuntar airports.

Mandi

Orange alert for heavy rain on Thursday as well

An orange alert of heavy rain has been issued in many areas of the state on Thursday as well. There is a possibility of getting some relief in the rain from Friday. The rain continued throughout the day in most areas of the state including the capital Shimla on Wednesday.

At the same time, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu kept taking updates from his official residence Oakover on Wednesday afternoon amidst heavy rains. Necessary guidelines were issued after taking every minute of news from all the Deputy Commissioners.

Educational institutions will remain closed in many districts

Government, private schools, vocational training centers, Anganwadi centers will remain closed on 24th even in Chamba assembly constituency. Bhatiyat Sub-Divisional Officer has issued the notification.

Educational institutions in Jwalamukhi subdivision, Indora, Nagrota Bagwan, Kangra subdivision, Jaisinghpur, Dharamshala, Baijnath, Shahpur, Fatehpur, Palampur and Dheera subdivisions of Kangra district will also remain closed on 24th.

Apart from this, educational institutions will also remain closed in Shimla, Hamirpur, Mandi, Solan. There will be no proposed examinations of HPU Shimla and Sardar Patel University Mandi on 24th.

Ban on operation of crushers in Beas and tributaries

At the same time, Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has ordered the closure of stone crushers on the banks of river Beas and its tributaries with immediate effect.

The CM said that in view of the rainy conditions, this decision has been taken due to Chakki river in Kangra district besides Beas and its tributaries in Kullu, Mandi, Kangra, Hamirpur districts being in spate.

Operation of all stone crushers of both perennial and non-perennial drains has been stopped till further orders.

Due to heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh, the bridge broke due to the Balad river being in spate.

People should take care of themselves in the midst of disaster: Jairam

Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur said that the state is in the grip of disaster for the second time within ten days. The government is requested to immediately vacate the houses coming under any kind of danger and send people to safer places.

Threatened trees should be cut as soon as possible. This can avoid the damage caused by falling trees. The Leader of the Opposition demanded that all kinds of arrangements should be made in the disaster relief camps so that the people living there do not face any kind of inconvenience.

He requested the people to leave the houses which are in danger in any way and go to safe places so that the possibility of any untoward incident can be avoided.

 

 

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