Heavy rain to continue till Aug 13; Orange alert issued for many Himachal districts

The state has suffered a loss of Rs 1,952.51 crore due to natural disasters triggered by torrential rains since the arrival of the monsoon.

As per the state Revenue Department records, the Public Works Department has been hit the most, suffering a staggering damage to the tune of Rs 1,040 crore. The Jal Shakti Department and Power Department have suffered loss of Rs 661.76 crore and Rs 139.46 crore, respectively, so far. The horticulture as well as the agriculture sector, two of the most important contributors to the state economy, have suffered loss of Rs 27.43 crore and Rs 11.45 crore, respectively.

A total of 108 persons have died in natural disasters, including cloudbursts, flashfloods and landslides, across the state. Till now, the state has witnessed 58 flashfloods, 51 landslides and 30 cloudbursts, including the one that occurred in the Tacklech area in Shimla district on Wednesday night. No loss of life was reported in the incident.

As per the state Meteorological Department, light to moderate rain, along with few spells of very heavy to heavy rain, is very likely to continue across the state till August 13. The department has also issued an orange alert for several districts for August 10 and 11, forecasting very heavy to heavy rain in isolated areas of the state.

A yellow weather alert has been issued for several districts for August 8, 9, 12 and 13, resulting in heavy rain at isolated places.

Meanwhile, very heavy to heavy rainfall at isolated places and light to moderate rain at most places continued across the state in the past 24 hours.

Bharwain in Una district received 120 mm rain, highest in the state. Naina Devi in Bilaspur received 90 mm, Kangra 62.5 mm, Dharamsala 42.5 mm, Nahan 32.6 mm, Bilaspur 30.2 mm, Una 22.2 mm, Sujanpur Tira 20 mm, Shimla 19 mm, Manali 12.2 mm, Palampur 11.6 mm, Sundernagar 9.4 mm, Kufri 9.2 mm and Solan received 3.6 mm of rain.