Cloudburst in Himachal village; several vehicles buried under debris, farms damaged

Several vehicles were buried under debris and crops were damaged due to a cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh’s Bilaspur district in the early hours of Saturday, officials said.

No casualty was reported in the cloudburst that occurred around 3 am at Gutrahan village in the Naina Devi assembly constituency.

Gushing waters carrying debris scattered all over agricultural lands, said Kashmir Singh, a villager whose land and crops have been damaged.

Four vehicles were buried under debris, said Deputy Commissioner of Bilaspur Rahul Kumar, adding that crop damage is being assessed and relief will be provided after receiving the report.

As soon as the information about the incident was received, officials reached the spot and took stock of the situation. The Public Works Department has begun removing the debris to restore traffic at the earliest.

There are reports of water and debris damaging houses in the Mamal and Kamlari villages of the Bhattiyat assembly constituency in Chamba district.

In the state capital of Shimla, fog engulfed reduced visibility to about a few metres, inconveniencing motorists.

The local weather office has issued a yellow warning of heavy rains in isolated parts of the state on Saturday and Sunday.

Light to moderate rains continued to lash parts of the state, and Palampur received 86 mm of rain since Friday evening, followed by Murari Devi 69.2 mm, Kangra 58.2 mm, Jogindernagar 45 mm, Aghar 16.8 mm, Naina Devi 16.6 mm, Dharamshala 14.8 mm and Mandi 13.6 mm.

A total of 577 roads, including the Attari-Leh stretch of National Highway-3, Aut-Sainj section of NH-305 and Amritsar-Bhota stretch of NH-503A, were closed for traffic on Saturday morning.

About 389 power transformers and 333 water supply schemes have been disrupted in the state due to the recent floods and landslides, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).

A total of 386 people have died in rain-related incidents and road accidents since the onset of the monsoon over the state on June 20.

So far, the state has suffered a loss of Rs 4,465 crore, the officials said.