Red alert issued for 3 districts as rains continue to batter state

Himachal Pradesh is set to witness extreme rainfall in isolated areas as the State Meteorological Department has issued a red weather warning for Kangra, Mandi and Sirmaur districts for September 2. An orange has been issued for Shimla, Kullu, Solan, Una, Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Chamba, Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts for September 2.

The Meteorological Department has forecast that light to moderate rain, along with few spells of very heavy rainfall in isolated areas, will continue across the state till September 7.

A total of 1,281 roads, including four National Highways (NH), were blocked for vehicular traffic due to heavy rainfall, which continued to wreak havoc across the state.

As per the State Emergency Operation Centre, 267 roads are blocked in Shimla; 257, including NH 3, in Mandi; 239 in Chamba, 168, including NH 305, in Kullu, 127, including NH 707, in Sirmaur, 68 in Solan, 60 in Kangra, 28 in Bilaspur, 27 in Una, 15 in Hamirpur, 13 in Lahaul and Spiti and 12 roads, including NH 5, have been blocked in Kinnaur district.

A total of 3,207 distribution transformers, including 722 in Shimla, 691 in Sirmaur, 518 in Solan, 436 in Kullu, 291 in Mandi, 207 in Chamba, 123 in Una, 146 in Lahaul and Spiti, 51 in Kinnaur, 20 in Hamirpur and two in Kangra district, remain disrupted, affecting electricity supply to many areas of the state.

Besides, 790 water supply schemes, including 278 in Shimla, 212 in Kangra, 100 in Chamba, 81 in Mandi, 54 in Hamirpur, 39 in Kullu, 14 in Solan and six each in Sirmaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts, are disrupted, affecting the drinking water supply.

Meanwhile, the state continued to receive extremely heavy rain in isolated areas, along with very heavy to heavy rainfall, during the past 24 hours. Nangal Dam in Una received 220 mm of rain, which was the highest in the state. Naina Devi in Bilaspur received 192 mm rain, Solan 187 mm, Nahan 177.8 mm, Kasauli 135 mm, Una 117.4 mm, Shimla 115.8 mm, Paonta Sahib 109.6 mm, Kufri 89.6 mm, Bilaspur 80.8mm, Narkanda 75 mm, Nadaun 60 mm, Sundernagar 40 mm, Palampur 32 mm, Mandi 28.6 mm, Manali 25 mm, Kangra 18.2 mm, Dharamsala 12.6mm and Keylong 10 mm.