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

Several vehicles were buried under debris, and farms were damaged due to a cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh’s Bilaspur district in the wee hours of Saturday. However, no casualty was reported, officials said.

The cloudburst occurred in Gutrahan village in the Namhol area of Naina Devi assembly constituency.

Gushing waters carrying debris scattered all over agricultural lands, said Kashmir Singh, a villager.

Many vehicles were buried in the debris.

Meanwhile, fog engulfed the state capital Shimla on Saturday morning, reducing visibility to about a few metres and people commuting in vehicles faced inconvenience during school time. The local Met office has issued a yellow warning of heavy rains in isolated parts of the state on Saturday and Sunday.

A total of 503 roads, including Attari-Leh road (National Highway-3), Aut-Sainj road (NH-305) and Amritsar-Bhota road (NH-503A), were closed for traffic in the state on Friday evening.

About 953 power transformers and 336 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 till September 12. Out of the 386 people, 218 died in rain-related incidents, while 168 were killed in road accidents.

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

Himachal Pradesh received an average rainfall of 967.2 mm from June 1 to September 12 against the normal of 678.4 mm, an excess of 43 per cent, according to the meteorological data.