Five of family die in Rampur cloudburst

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 26

Five members of a family from Nepal were killed while a 12-year-old visually and hearing impaired boy was injured in a massive landslide triggered by a cloudburst at Gawaldi village in Narayan Panchayat in Rampur area of Shimla district today.

“The cloudburst occurred at the hilltop of Bandrali village and the gushing water washed away the kutcha house of Lachhman Dass and damaged six apple orchards,” said panchayat president Naresh Chauhan, who reached the spot immediately after the incident.

Shimla Deputy Commissioner Rohan Chand Thakur said the bodies of Lachhman Dass, his wife Dev Kumari, son Suraj (6) and daughter Sunita (7) were recovered from debris while rescue operations were on to recover the body of 11-year-old daughter Purshottama.

Karan Bahadur (12), a visually and hearing impaired, who had a miraculous escape, got his leg fractured and was admitted to hospital. The area was located in the interior of Rampur and was inaccessible due to landslides, hampering the rescue operations, he added.

Rampur DSP Som Dutt, who conducted the rescue operations with the help of local people, said four bodies had been extricated from debris while operations were on to recover the fifth body.

He said the road to Gawaldi village was breached at many places and rescue teams had hard time reaching the village. Apple orchards of Hira Lal, Bogala Devi, Surja Devi, Gokali Devi and Bala were badly damaged. Rampur SDM Nishant Thakur reached the spot and announced interim relief to victims.

Meanwhile, moderate rain occurred at some places in the state. Una was the wettest with 27 mm rain followed by Jubbal and Shimla. Jubbal and Shimla recorded 17 mm and 15 mm rain, respectively, followed by Banjar 12 mm, Kumarsein and Sarahan 8 mm and Mashobra and Manali 5 mm each.

The maximum temperatures rose marginally and Una was the hottest with high of 36.2°C while Bhuntar and Sundernagar recorded maximum temperatures at 33.5 °C and 33.2°C, respectively, followed by Nahan 31.8°C, Solan 29.2°C, Dharamsala 29.8°C, Kalpa 24.6°C and Shimla 23.4°C. The local met office has predicted rain and thundershowers at few places in the lower, mid and higher hills over the next six days.