Heavy rain brings debris onto Himachal highway; wet spell likely till Sept 9

Shimla, Sep 3 (PTI) Persistent heavy rainfall brought debris onto a stretch of the Chandigarh-Shimla highway in Himachal Pradesh's Solan district on Thursday, impeding traffic, while runoff water inundated a few shops along the key thoroughfare.

Debris on a stretch of the four-lane Chandigarh-Shimla highway near Chakki Mod, around 10 km from Parwanoo, led to the closure of a section of the road, triggering traffic congestion as vehicles were forced to traverse on one lane.

Runoff water from the highway flooded shops in the Jabli area near Dharampur.

Heavy rainfall also led to waterlogging in several parts of Parwanoo. Rapid flow of water and debris along hillsides triggered panic among residents.

While there have been no reports of loss of life so far, the heavy rain caused property damage worth lakhs in the Kasauli assembly constituency, officials said.

A rain alert has been issued for the Kasauli subdivision of Solan district, with officials monitoring Kasauli, Dharampur, Chakki Mod and Parwanoo areas.

Kasauli Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) Mahendra Pratap Singh appealed to citizens to remain vigilant in view of the heavy rainfall and avoid going close to water bodies.

Additionally, landslides triggered by incessant rain in the Naddi area damaged key gravity pipelines supplying drinking water to Dharamshala city in Kangra district, disrupting water supply to several parts of the town, officials said on Thursday.

The Shimla Meteorological Centre has issued an alert for heavy rain in isolated areas of Bilaspur, Kangra and Sirmaur districts on Friday, and in Bilaspur, Kangra and Solan districts on Saturday.

The weather office has also predicted a wet spell in the state till September 9.

On Thursday, Bilaspur's Naina Devi received 130.6 mm of rainfall, followed by 85.8 mm of rain in Mandi's Murari Devi. Jatton Barrage received 67.6 mm of rainfall, while Nahan saw 45.4 mm, Kasauli 45 mm, Dharamshala 44.3 mm, Pachhad 33 mm and Kangra 25.2 mm.

As many as 95 roads across the state are closed to traffic as of Thursday evening.

The highest number of roads are blocked in Mandi district (38), followed by Kullu (22), Sirmaur (10), Kangra (8), Chamba (6), Una (4), Shimla (3), Solan (2) and Lahaul-Spiti and Bilaspur (1 each), according to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).

Additionally, 43 power transformers and 35 water supply schemes were hit.

Since the onset of the monsoon on June 30 till date, about 108 people have died statewide in rain-related incidents, while the state has suffered losses amounting to Rs 1,235 crore, officials said. PTI