Himachal rains: One killed, shops damaged in cloudburst in Sirmaur
Heavy rains lashed several parts of the state, leading to the closure of 50 roads since Wednesday evening, taking the total number of roads closed in HP to 71.
A person died due to a cloudburst triggered by heavy rain in Himachal Pradesh’s Sirmaur district as 26 roads, including a national highway, were closed due to bad weather in the district, officials said on Thursday.
Heavy rains lashed several parts of the state, leading to the closure of 50 roads since Wednesday evening, taking the total number of roads closed in the state to 71, including NH-707.
A cloudburst at Parloni village caused the death of one person while shops and other infrastructure was damaged after a ‘gharat’ (water mill) collapsed in Amboya area of Paonta Sahib sub division of the district, Sirmaur deputy commissioner Sumit Khimta said on Thursday.
The deceased, identified as Rangi, was buried under the debris.
Traffic on some roads has been disrupted and the water level in the Yamuna river has also increased, the officer said, adding that educational institutions were closed for a day in Paonta Sahib and Shallai areas of the district.
According to the Met officials, Dhaulakuan in Sirmaur district was the state’s wettest place, recording 275mm of rainfall followed by Paonta Sahib with 165.6mm, Nahan 94.4mm, Dharamshala 54mm, Jubbarhatti 43.2mm, Mandi 42.2mm, Palampur 39mm, Kangra 38.3mm and Dehra Gopipur 38mm.
A maximum of 26 roads are closed in Sirmaur followed by 24 in Mandi, 10 in Kangra, nine in Shimla and two in Kullu district, while 469 power supply schemes have been affected, according to the state emergency operation centre (SEOC).
There were reports of rain and erratic power supply in several areas, including in Shimla and Hamirpur districts.
The local weather office issued an ‘orange’ heavy rain alert in isolated parts of the state for Thursday and yellow warning of thunderstorm and lightning on Friday.
It also warned of low to moderate flash flood risk in parts of seven out of 12 districts, including Shimla, Sirmaur Kangra, Chamba, Solan, Kullu and Mandi till Friday.
People, particularly schoolchildren and office-goers, faced inconvenience in the morning as fog engulfed several areas amid continuing rain, said Sanjeev Kumar, a local resident of Shimla.
The rain deficit in the current monsoon season (from June 1 onwards) was 19% with Himachal Pradesh receiving 590.4mm of rainfall against a normal of 729.5mm, the local Met office said on Wednesday.
