Heavy rain likely in Himachal Pradesh till August 20, Met issues ‘yellow’ alert

Shimla, August 16

The local Met office on Friday issued a ‘yellow’ alert for heavy rain in 10 of Himachal Pradesh’s 12 districts till August 20 even as showers in parts of the state led to the closure of 58 roads, including a national highway.

The wet spell in the state is likely to continue till August 22, the Met office here said.

It also warned of low-flash flood risk in parts of Chamba, Kangra, Shimla and Sirmaur districts till Saturday and cautioned of the possibility of damage to plantations, crops, vulnerable structures and kutcha houses.

The National Highway-707 between Hatkoti in Shimla district and Poanta Sahib in Sirmaur district was among the 58 roads closed due to rain on Friday, State Emergency Operation Centre said.

Nineteen roads are closed in Shimla, 14 in Mandi, 12 in Kangra, eight in Kullu, three in Kinnaur and one each in Sirmaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts, it added.

The rainfall also disrupted 31 power and four water supply schemes.

Since Thursday evening, Dalhousie recorded the highest rainfall at 62 mm, followed by Palampur (56 mm), Kandaghat 936.6 mm), Ghamroor (35.6 mm), Nagrota Suriyan (32 mm), Kangra (28.2 mm), Guler (23.8 mm) and Dharamshala (17.8 mm).

Himachal Pradesh’s rainfall deficit this monsoon stood at 23 per cent till Friday with the state receiving 397.9 mm rain against an average of 513.5 mm.

Officials said 120 people were killed in rain-related incidents and the state suffered losses of about Rs 1,129 crore between June 27 and Friday.

Keylong in Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in Himachal Pradesh with a night temperature of 10.7 degrees Celsius while Una was the hottest, recording a maximum temperature of 36.4 degrees.