There appears to be no immediate respite in the offing for Himachal Pradesh, which has been battered by rains over the last few days, as the India Meteorological Department (IMD), on July 11, issued “red” and “orange” alerts for several districts of the hill-state for the next 24 hours.
Earlier on July 8, the weather department had raised the ‘orange’ alert to ‘red’ for isolated spells of extremely heavy rainfall in the Himachal districts for two days.
IMD had also warned of localised flooding and landslides in Himachal Pradesh.
Isolated spells of very heavy rainfall are likely in districts Shimla, Sirmaur and Solan, while there could be isolated spells of heavy rain in Lahaul and Spiti.
As of now, over 90 roads have been affected due to the rainfall. Besides, 69 distribution transformers and 73 water schemes have been disrupted. Most roads have been affected in the district of Shimla, especially in the upper Shimla area.
Due to heavy rains, three houses have collapsed in Dochi village in Kasauli. A few more houses in the village are also under threat.
As per IMD, “A red alert has been issued for very heavy rainfall in Solan, Shimla, Sirmaur, Kullu, Mandi, Kinnaur, and Lahaul for the next 24 hours.
Additionally, an orange alert has been issued in Una, Hamirpur, Kangra, and Chamba. A flash flood warning has been issued for Mandi, Kinnaur, and Lahaul-Spiti for the next 24 hours,” said senior IMD Scientist Sandeep Kumar Sharma on Monday. Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jairam Thakur on July 10 said the state recorded unprecedented rains in the past few days, adding that he was concerned over the loss of lives and damage to public infrastructure.
Thakur, who is now the Leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Assembly, told the media that Himachal Pradesh had “not seen such rain in its history” as over 12 major bridges have been damaged.
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“We never saw such a situation in the past several years. I am very concerned over the prevailing situation in the state. Several big and small rivers are in spate and if the situation persists over the next few days, there could be further damage,” he said.
The rains have wreaked havoc in Himachal Pradesh, triggering landslides, causing power disruption, blocking roads, and damaging bridges. Nature’s fury in the state has claimed 20 lives over the past 48 hours.
Tourists were stranded in parts of the hill state, with the loss of infrastructure estimated at between Rs 3,000 crore and Rs. 4,000 crore.
Meanwhile, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday said the state has not seen such heavy rains in the last 50 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on July 10, spoke to the Himachal CM on the prevailing situation, assuring full support from the Centre.
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