Monsoon subdued in Himachal after 3 days of heavy rain, traffic restored

Shimla, August 20

After three days of heavy showers, which led to snapping of several road links following landslides, the hills of Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday saw subdued rainfall activity, the Met office here said.

Most of the rivers that were in spate saw a decline in water levels. Traffic on a majority of the highways and link roads was restored.

"There was no heavy rainfall in the state but precipitation occurred at some places in the state since Monday," a Met official told IANS.

He said the weather conditions would likely to be mostly dry in the state, adding that light rainfall might occur at some places.

Shimla got 32.3 mm of rain, while Manali received 16 mm, Dalhousie 9 mm and Una 5.2 mm.

A total of 22 people died and two were reported missing in the state in rain-related incidents in the past three days.

There was an estimated loss of Rs 20 crore to both public and private property in the state. Till date, the overall loss was Rs 574 crore.

Authorities said excess water was discharged from the Pandoh diversion dam, located 112 km upstream of Pong dam, as a precautionary measure.

The Pandoh diversion dam is located on the Beas river in Mandi district. It diverts excess monsoon water towards the Pong dam. Otherwise, it diverts water towards the Satluj river which feeds the Gobind Sagar reservoir of the Bhakra dam. IANS