Rainfall to continue in Himachal till September 17

As many as 580 roads, including three National Highways, are still blocked for vehicular traffic in Himachal Pradesh due to heavy rainfall and landslides. The weather department has predicted that rainfall will continue in the state till September 17.

As per the State Emergency Operation Centre, 206 roads, including the National Highway-03 and the National Highway-305, are blocked in Kullu district, followed by 141 in Mandi, 72 in Shimla, 44 in Kangra, 30 in Chamba, 29 in Sirmaur, 20 (including the National Highway-503A) in Una, 19 in Solan, 15 in Bilaspur, two in Kinnaur and one each in Hamirpur and Lahual and Spiti districts.

As many as 598 transformers are still disrupted, leaving many areas of these districts without electricity. The highest number of 270 disrupted transformers are in Kullu, 138 in Mandi, 125 in Solan, 41 in Shimla, 21 in Chamba, two in Kinnaur and one in Lahaul and Spiti district. Furthermore, around 367 water supply schemes (176 in Kangra, 102 in Shimla, 51 in Mandi, 22 in Chamba, six in Kullu and five each in Solan and Sirmaur) are also disrupted, affecting water supply in many areas of these districts.

Heavy rainfall will continue across Himachal Pradesh from September 12 to 14. The weather department has issued a yellow warning of heavy rain for Shimla, Kangra, Una, Sirmaur, Bilaspur and Hamirpur districts for September 12, with thunderstorms and lightning in isolated places. Similarly, a yellow alert for heavy rain along with thunderstorms and lightning had been issued for several districts for September 13 and 14.

Meanwhile, the state, during the last 24 hours, witnessed moderate to heavy rain at many places. Baldwara village in Mandi district received the highest of 70 mm of rain, followed by Naina Devi in Bilaspur (40 mm), Palampur and Kangra (36 mm each), Sundernagar (33.9 mm), Mandi (27 mm), Sujanpur Tira (20 mm), Kasauli (10 mm), Dharamsala (9.5 mm), Shimla (7.2 mm) and Manali (3.3 mm).