Heavy rain expected in parts of Himachal Pradesh

Shimla, August 14

Some parts of Himachal Pradesh may experience heavy rain till Tuesday, a weather official said on Monday.

“There are chances of heavy rain in Solan, Shimla, Sirmaur and Bilaspur districts,” Manmohan Singh, the meteorological office director, told IANS.

Most of the prominent tourist towns like Shimla, Narkanda, Kufri, Chail, Kasauli, Chamba, Dharamsala, Palampur and Manali have been witnessing good spells of rain for the past one week.

Shimla, which saw an overnight rain, recorded a low of 15.6 degrees Celsius on Monday.

Dharamsala saw a minimum of 17.6 degrees, while it was 13.6 degrees in Manali.

A massive landslide in Mandi district triggered late on Saturday night by heavy rain swallowed a 150m stretch of road burying homes, two buses and vehicles, leaving 46 dead and five injured.

Fearing more landslides, the government has closed the stretch between Mandi and Aut on the Chandigarh-Manali highway.

The authorities have started a route via Kalota to reach Kullu and Manali, a notification said.

The Jogindernagar-Mandi section of the Pathankot-Mandi highway has also been temporarily shut. IANS