Massive rains ravage Himachal; Claim 280 lives, ruin several roads, rescue on warfooting

The flash floods and landslides have also caused an extensive property damage with as many as 650 houses along with a number of shops, factories, labour sheds, and agricultural assets.

Shimla: The heavy rains followed by landslides and flash floods have so far claimed about 280 lives since June. Besides around 370 roads including two national highways have been closed throwing vehicular traffic in disarray, reports Dynamite News correspondent.

Out of the 280 deaths so far, as many as 145 have been caused by rain disasters and 135 lives in road accidents.

The Himachal Pradesh State Disaster Management Authority (HPSDMA), while giving the details said, "The rain-related fatalities include deaths due to landslides (10), flash floods (9), cloudbursts (17), drowning (29), lightning (2), fires (13), electrocution (10), falls from steep terrain (30), and other incidents (25). Kangra district has reported the highest rain-related death toll at 29, followed by Mandi (26), Chamba (14), Kullu and Hamirpur (13 each), and Kinnaur (12)."

Heavy Property Damage

In the monsoon fury over 340 people have been reported injured. More than 1800 animals and about 25,700 poultry birds have also died. The flash floods and landslides have also caused an extensive property damage with as many as 650 houses along with a number of shops, factories, labour sheds, and agricultural assets.

Electricity And Water Supply Affected

Due to rain, roads and the supply of electricity and water have been badly affected. 1 national highway and 345 roads are closed in the state. Also, 327 transformers are down, and 130 drinking water schemes have been disrupted. Since June 20, the state has suffered an economic loss of more than Rs 2281 crore. Half of the deaths in the state have occurred due to road accidents.

Weather In Shimla

The Meteorological Center of Shimla has said that rain will continue in many areas of Himachal Pradesh till August 27. An orange alert has been issued for heavy rain from August 23 to 26, while there will be a yellow alert on August 22 and 27. Special vigilance has been asked about heavy rain in Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla and Sirmaur districts.

Mandi district, which has already been affected by natural disasters, has increased the concern of the people due to the warning of heavy rain. Due to this, more damage is feared in the area. On Thursday also, the situation of opening and closing of Chandigarh-Manali National Highway remained, due to which people travelling daily are very upset.