Himachal’s monsoon losses touch Rs 835 crore; 153 roads remain blocked

The total loss suffered due to the ongoing monsoon season in the state has reached to about Rs 835.09 crores, as rains continue to wreak havoc across the state.

As per the Department of Revenue, out of the total loss suffered, around Rs 615.85 crore has been lost by the Public Work Department (PWD) alone. Additionally, the Jal Shakti Vibhag has suffered a total loss of Rs 199.86 crore and the Power Department lost Rs 5.3 crore.

Moreover, as many as 153 roads along with 92 transformers and 77 water supply schemes continue to remain disrupted across the state, causing inconvenience to people.

As per the State Emergency Operation Centre, out of the total roads blocked, 65 are in Mandi, 42 in Kullu, 26 in Shimla, eight in Sirmaur, five in Kangra, four in Chamba and three in Una.

Similarly, out of the total disrupted transformers, 77 are in Lahaul and Spiti, 10 in Chamba, four in Shimla and one in Kinnaur.

Apart from this, out of the total water supply schemes which remain disrupted, about 55 are in Sirmaur, 10 in Hamirpur, seven in Chamba and five in Shimla.

Meanwhile, heavy rainfall is very likely to continue across the state till August 14 for which orange and yellow alerts have been issued by the state’s Meteorological Centre.

For August 9, yellow alerts in the state have been issued for Kangra, Hamirpur and Una districts, which will result in heavy rains in isolated places of these districts.

Additionally, light to moderate rain is also expected to occur in other parts of Himachal.

While the minimum temperatures are expected to remain normal across Himachal till August 14, maximum temperatures are likely to surge by 2°C to 3°C.

Similarly, light to moderate rain continued to occur in most parts of the state during the past 24 hours.

Dharamsala received 48.1 mm, Manali 22 mm, Shimla 15 mm, Mandi 12.6 mm, Kangra 11.7 mm and Keylong 7 mm.

Maximum temperature in Shimla was 22°C, Dharamshala 27°C, Manali 23.8°C, Solan 27.2°C, Kangra 28.7°C, Mandi 29.8°C, Sundernagar 30.2°C, Bilaspur 30°C, Una 30.4°C, Kufri 21.2°C, Keylong 18.6°C, Kalpa 24°C, Nahan 27.8°C, and Chamba 27.5°C.

The highest maximum temperature in the state was 32.8°C, which was recorded in Hamirpur, while the lowest minimum temperature was 10.3°C, which was recorded in Lahaul and Spiti’s Kukumseri.