Rain, hail lash parts of Himachal Pradesh; orange alert issued for Monday

PTI

Shimla, April 27

Intermittent rain accompanied by thunderstorms and hail lashed several parts of Himachal Pradesh while the tribal areas received fresh snowfall on Saturday, causing a sharp dip in the mercury.

Sixty roads and three national highways -- Atal Tunnel-Rohtang Pass, Grmphu-Losar and Darcha- Sarchu -- were closed while supply from 103 transformers was disrupted, officials said.

Heavy rain, accompanied by hail and a thunderstorm, lashed Shimla and its surrounding areas.

A severe hailstorm also hit Gohar and its surrounding areas in Mandi district, causing extensive damage to stone fruits, tomato, peas and wheat crops.

The local Met office has issued an orange warning for heavy rain and thunderstorm, accompanied by hail and gusty winds with speeds reaching 40-50 kilometres per hour at isolated places on Monday and a yellow alert for thunderstorms, accompanied by hail and gusty winds at isolated places on Sunday and Tuesday.

It has also predicted rain or snow at many places in the higher hills and rain at several places in the lower and mid hills on Sunday and Monday and rain and snow at a few places in the higher hills on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Intermittent snowfall is continuing in the high-altitude tribal areas and the higher hills of Kullu, it said.

Gondla received 8 cm of fresh snow while Hansa and Keylong registered 2.5 cm and 2 cm.

Manali was wettest place in the state, recording 31 mm rainfall, followed by Chamba at 30 mm, Kothi at 28 mm, Tissa at 21 mm, Jubbarhatti at 17 mm, Rampur at 16.5 mm, Bharmour at 16 mm, Kalpa at 14.2 mm, Salooni at 14 mm, Keylong and Chhaila at 11 mm and Shimla and Dalhousie at 10 mm, the weather office said.

Day temperatures also plummeted at several places.

The maximum temperature in Chamba was at 16.3 degrees Celsius and in Keylong at 2.2 degrees, 19.5 and 13.8 notches below normal, respectively.

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