Cloudburst kills 1 in Kinnaur, roads in Shimla, Mandi blocked

Tribune News Service

Shimla, August 1

Heavy to very heavy rain lashed several parts of Himachal, triggering landslides at many places, blocking over 150 roads in the past 24 hour.

One person was killed while two sustained injuries as a landslide, caused by a cloudburst, destroyed two houses in Nugalsarai in Kinnaur district.

Landslides blocked Hindustan-Tibet National Highway at Nugalsarai. The Jogindernagar-Pathankot highway was also choked for two hours due to a massive landslide near Jogindernagar and a link road between Rohru and Rampur was blocked at three places.

A large number of link roads in the interior areas of Shimla, Mandi, Kullu, Kangra and Kinnaur were blocked. Efforts are afoot to open 100 roads while the remaining roads will be opened tomorrow, an official of the Public Works Department said.

Gaggal, which received 181mm of rain in the past 24 hours, was the wettest followed by Baijnath 176 mm and Palampur 116 mm, Mashobra 91 mm, Shimla 81.8 mm, Nagrota Suriyan 61 mm, Gohar 60 mm, Dehra Gopipur and Dharamsala 54 mm each, Sujanpur Tira 52, Guler 51 mm, Rohru 44 mm, Kumarsen 42 mm, Jubbal 39 mm, Sarahan 38 mm, Jubbarhatti and Bijahi 33 mm.

The minimum temperature increased by 1 to 2 degree and the maximum temperature decreased marginally.

Mandi with a low of 13.1 degree was the coldest at night while Bhuntar, recording a maximum temperature at 30.6 degree, was the hottest in day. The local MeT office has warned of heavy rain in lower and mid hills tomorrow.