358 roads blocked, heavy rainfall to continue till August 4

As many as 358 roads, including the National Highway-21, are closed for vehicular traffic as torrential rain continues to wreak havoc in the state. Of the 358 roads, around 259, including the Mandi-Kullu highway, are closed in Mandi district, 47 in Kullu, 24 in Kangra, 14 in Chamba, four each in Una and Hamirpur, two each in Solan and Sirmaur and one in Shimla district, causing inconvenience to commuters.

Also, 182 power transformers (172 in Mandi and five each in Kangra and Chamba districts) and 179 water supply schemes (98 in Kangra, 47 in Mandi and 34 in Chamba) are still disrupted.

Heavy rainfall is likely to continue in the state till August 4. The state’s Meteorological Department has issued an orange alert for heavy rain in Mandi, Kullu, Kangra and Chamba districts and a yellow warning of heavy rain in Shimla, Hamirpur, Sirmaur and Una districts on July 30. A yellow alert for heavy rainfall has also been issued for the state till August 4.

Meanwhile, the state experienced heavy to extremely heavy rain at isolated places and light to moderate rain at most places during the past 24 hours. Sandhole in Mandi district received the highest 210 mm of rain, followed by Mandi (198.6 mm), Dehra-Gopipur in Kangra (74 mm), Una (72 mm), Sujanpur Tira (70 mm), Palampur (47.6 mm), Paonta Sahib (41.4 mm), Sundernagar (39.5 mm), Bilaspur (34.4 mm).