Himachal Kullu, Aug 03 (Parami News): Parts of Kullu-Manali Highway were washed away by cloudburst in Kullu on Saturday.
In the last four days, over 190 roads have been closed in Himachal Pradesh with a warning from the local weather office about heavy rains till August 7.
As per the information provided by State emergency operation centre on Saturday, “Of the 191 roads closed for vehicular traffic in the state, 79 are in Mandi, 38 in Kullu, 35 in Chamba and 30 in Shimla, five in Kangra and two each in Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts.”
VIDEO | Himachal Pradesh: Repair work being carried out by National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) on a road near Manali-Chandigarh NH 3 after it was damaged due to cloudburst.
According to the centre, ”So far there have been disruptions to transformers at a rate of no fewer than two hundred and ninety four while one hundred and twenty water supply schemes have been hampered by the situation.”
The MD HRTC Rohan Chand Thakur has said that HRTC has canceled bus services on eighty-two routes out of three thousand six hundred twelve (3612).
Moderate to heavy showers continued to lash parts of the state with Jogindernagar recording maximum rainfall since Friday evening at 85 mm followed by Gohar (80 mm), Shilaroo (76.4 mm), Poanta Sahib (67.2), Palampur (57.2 mm) Dharamshala (55.6 mm) and Chopal (52mm).
Officials say rain related incidents have claimed seventy seven lives between June 27 when monsoon began up until August first as losses amounting to six point fifty five billion rupees were registered.
Rescue operation to trace 45 missing resumes
Today, the rescue operation to find about 45 people who went missing after cloudbursts in three districts of Himachal Pradesh started again but so far it has been fruitless.
According to officials, there are a total of four hundred and ten rescuers from Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), State Disaster Response Force, police (SDRF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), police and home guards involved in this exercise with the help of drones as of Saturday.
On Wednesday night eight people have died in flash floods due to cloudburst which occurred in Nirmand, Sainj and Malana areas in Kullu, Mandi’s Padhar and Shimla’s Rampur subdivision.
#WATCH | Himachal Pradesh | Indian Army built a temporary bridge as rescue and restoration works are underway in Rampur’s Samej.
Occurring on August 1, six lives were lost during a cloudburst incident.
Speaking on Friday, Chief Secretary Prabodh Saxena said around “300 people stranded around Shrikhand Mahadev in Kullu were safe and about 25 tourists at Malana are also being looked after well by the locals.”
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu who visited Samej village in Rampur where over 30 people are missing on Friday had announced an immediate relief of ₹50,000 for the victims and said they would be given ₹5,000 monthly for rent for the next three months along with gas, food and other essential items.
