Himachal Pradesh braces for more heavy rain; 199 roads closed, 105 dead so far
Met office issues yellow warning for state, forecasting heavy rain in multiple districts this week
Shimla, Jul 15 (PTI) The Met office on Tuesday forecast heavy rainfall in two to nine districts of Himachal Pradesh this week and issued yellow warning in the state, where a total of 199 roads are closed following rains.
Since the onset of monsoon on June 20 till July 14, about 105 people lost their lives, 61 in rain-related incidents and 44 in road accidents and 184 have been injured, while 35 are missing, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).
Himachal Pradesh has suffered losses of more than Rs 786 crore. The state has witnessed 31 flash floods, 22 cloudbursts, and 18 landslides this monsoon, the SEOC said.
About 141 roads in the disaster-hit Mandi district are closed. Also, 171 water supply schemes and 68 power distribution transformers were affected as on Tuesday evening.
Meanwhile, Jubbarhatti in the suburbs of Shimla received 56.8 mm of rain since Monday evening followed by Kahu 39.5 mm, Bilaspur 31.3 mm, Slapper 30.1 mm, Kasauli 28 mm, Dharampur 24.2 mm, Kufri 23.5 mm, Murari Devi 21.8 mm, Shimla 20.8 mm, Pachhad 19.1 mm, Karsog 19 mm, Dhaulakuan 18.5 mm and Jot 17.6 mm.
Thunderstorms were witnessed in Sundernagar, Palampur and Shimla while gusty winds of speed between 37 and 41 km/ph lashed Kufri and Dhaulakuan.
Search operations are still underway to trace the 27 people who were washed away after heavy downpour wreaked havoc in various parts of Mandi on the night of June 30 which resulted in the death of 15 people, officials said.
Keylong was coldest at night with a low of 11.8 degree Celsius while Una was hottest during the day recording a high of 32.5 degree Celsius. PTI