Mandi-Dharampur stretch of NH 3, several Himachal roads closed for vehicular traffic due to downpour

Heavy rain in the past few days has led to the closure of 245 roads, including the Mandi-Dharampur stretch of the National Highway-3 that connects Attari in Punjab with Leh in Ladakh, officials said on Thursday.

Mandi, which was ravaged by 10 cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides, leading to the death of 15 people on the intervening night of June 30 and July 1, saw 138 roads closed while 124 transformers and 137 water supply schemes were affected.

According to the State Emergency Operations Centre, a total of 192 transformers and 740 water supply schemes were disrupted in the state on Thursday morning.

Isolated places in Sirmaur and Bilaspur districts were lashed by heavy rain. Dhaulakuan was the wettest in the state, recording 168.5 mm of rain since Wednesday evening, followed by Bilaspur, 120.4 mm.

Low to moderate rains occurred in several parts of the state. Manali received 46 mm of rain, Jubbarhatti 44.2 mm, Nagrota Surian 42.4 mm, Poanta Sahib 38.4 mm, Sujanpur Tihra 37.5 mm, Jatton Barrage 34.6 mm, Nahan 34.1 mm and Guler 32.8 mm.

The local weather office has issued a yellow alert of heavy rainfall at isolated places in the state from Sunday to Wednesday. It also warned of low to moderate flash-flood risk in parts of Chamba, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla and Sirmaur districts.

Since the onset of monsoon on June 20, Himachal Pradesh has received 30 per cent excess rain, and the state suffered losses of Rs 740 crore as 31 flash floods, 22 cloudbursts, and 17 landslides, along with heavy rains, claimed several lives and damaged buildings, agriculture and forest lands.

A total of 85 people died, 54 of them in rain-related incidents, 31 in road accidents and 129 sustained injuries, while 34 people are still missing, officials added.

Himachal Tribune