Landslides, widespread flooding as rain ravages state

Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 1

Incessant rain crippled normal life in several parts of the state today, triggering landslides and causing damage to roads, water supply schemes and interrupting power supply.

Landslides occurred at 150 places, including the Kiratpur-Manali and Hindustan-Tibet National Highways. Over 100 roads, including links roads, were closed due to landslides in the interiors areas of Shimla, Kullu, Mandi, Sirmaur, Hamirpur and Kangra districts.

The Kiratpur-Manali road, which was blocked due to a landslide near Hanogi, was opened after 11 hours while the Hindustan-Tibet road, which was blocked due to the blockade of Broni khud near Jhakri, 150 km from here, was opened after more than four hours.

The landslides uprooted trees and power supply was interrupted in parts of Shimla and many areas remained without power for several hours. Landslides occurred at six places in Shimla town, disrupting vehicular traffic. The heavy rain damaged the main pipeline of gravity water supply in Nahan, while several low-lying areas in Hamirpur were inundated.

The rain-related incidents have claimed 22 lives from June 15 to July 31, while the loss to property is estimated at Rs 203.29 crore, which includes loss of Rs 124.70 crore to the Public Works Department, Rs 42.86 crore to the Irrigation and Public Health Department, Rs 15.70 crore to the Horticulture Department, Rs 8 crore to the State Electricity Board and Rs 4 crore to the Agriculture Department. Further, 71 heads of cattle perished, over 80 houses were totally damaged and over 210 houses suffered partial damage due to the rain.

“About 100 roads were blocked, mostly in rural areas, and work was going on a war footing to clear the roads and 11 JCB of the PWD, 10 hired JCB, six tractors and other machines were deployed at various sites,” said DD Sharma, special secretary, Disaster Management.

Though the water level of major rivers and their tributaries has increased, the monsoon rain deficit during June and July is still 25 per cent.

Dharamsala, which received 194.4 mm of rain, was the wettest in the state followed by Nahan 144.8 mm, Renuka 100 mm, Dharampur, Baijnath and Jogindernagar 97 mm each, Kasauli 89 mm, Jubbarhatti 79 mm, Shimla 78 mm, Hamirpur 74 mm, Pandoh 70 mm, Pachhad 64 mm, Gaggal 63 mm, Arki 54 mm, Palampur 53 mm, Banjara and Mashobra 50 mm each, Bijahi 44 mm, and Naina Devi 41mm.

There was no significant change in the maximum temperature while the minimum temperature rose marginally. Una was the hottest with the maximum temperature at 34.8°C, while Dharamsala, Solan and Shimla recorded a high of 28.2°C, 24°C and 20.4°C, respectively.

Kalpa in tribal Kinnaur district recorded a low of 14°C, while Shimla, Manali and Keylong recorded the minimum temperature of 15.9°C, 16.0°C and 16.1°C, respectively. The local MeT office has predicted rain or thundershowers at many places in the lower, mid and higher hills over the next six days.