Manali-Leh National Highway reopens to traffic after flash flood; Met predicts heavy rain till July 30

Shimla, July 26

The Manali-Leh National Highway-3 has been opened for vehicular traffic, officials said on Friday, two days after a section of the road was blocked between Dhundi and Palchan Bridge following a flash flood.

The deluge was caused by a cloudburst at the Anjani Mahadev nullah in Manali around Wednesday midnight.

The road was thrown open on Thursday evening by the Border Road Organisation (BRO), the officials added. The traffic was earlier being routed via Rohtang Pass.

The flash flood triggered by the cloudburst swept away three houses and critically damaged another one, leaving four families homeless. The affected families are putting up at a school for the time being.

The Shimla meteorological office on Friday issued a ‘yellow’ alert of heavy rainfall at isolated places in eight out of 12 districts of the state for the next four days till July 30.

It cautioned about damage to plantations and standing crops, vulnerable structures and ‘kutcha’ houses due to strong winds, and waterlogging in low-lying areas.

Intermittent rain continued to lash parts of the state, with Dharamshala recording 53.6 mm of downpour, followed by Shimla 50 mm, Brahmani 40.6 mm, Sundernagar 45 mm, Gohar 40 mm, Slapper 32.3 mm, Baggi 31.4 mm, Dhaulakuan 31 mm, Jubberhatti 21.2 mm, Kasauli 12 mm, Dalhousie 11 mm and Manali 10 mm.

Fifty-one people have died in rain-related incidents in the state since the onset of the monsoon on June 27 and losses suffered so far are worth around Rs 390 crore, according to the emergency operation centre.