On day one, monsoon pours misery; debris, sludge damage buildings, vehicles in Shimla

Tribune News Service

Subhash Rajta

Shimla, June 28

The first rainfall of the monsoon season has set alarm bells ringing in Shimla. Following heavy rain for over three hours last night, muck and debris entered a couple of buildings and washed away a retaining wall in the lower Mehli locality of the city.

In Malyana, the other peripheral area of the city, three vehicles were buried under the debris. The villagers had to dig out the vehicles from underneath the debris this morning.

The state capital and its surrounding areas received heavy rains; Shimla received 84.3 mm of rain.

In Mehli, rainwater and muck entered houses due to the clogged drain along the road. The rainwater rushed onto the road and then, about half a kilometre down the road, the sludge flowed down the slopes into the houses, about 500 m from the road.

Orange alert for very heavy rainfall

• The Weather Department has issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rain over the next 72 hours at one or two places in Bilaspur, Chamba, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur and Solan districts. The rain is likely to be accompanied by thunder and lightning
• The department has warned of localised flooding of roads, waterlogging in low-lying areas and the closure of underpasses
• There’s a possibility of landslides, mudslides and land subsidence as well
• There could be disruption in essential services such as electricity, communication and related services as well

“At midnight, we found the balcony of our house covered with sludge and debris. The lower floor was filled completely with muck. We were scared for our lives,” said Pushpa Thakur, who has a flat in the building. “And now look at the debris, where are we going to dump it?” she said, pointing towards a massive heap of rubble.

Kuldeep Singh, whose building was also hit by sludge, said debris had entered their buildings about 10 days ago as well following rainfall in Shimla. “We filed a complaint with the Municipal Corporation and the Public Works Department (PWD) about the problem, but no one paid heed. The agencies kept shifting the onus to each other,” he lamented. “It’s only when we blocked the road for traffic this morning that administration officials came here,” he added.

Malyana residents said that the Public Works Department had dumped debris along the road and the entire muck came down following heavy rain last night, burying three vehicles. “The debris came down at night. Besides damaging vehicles, our natural source of water was also destroyed. The PWD has dumped their debris on the hill slopes,” said Kuldeep Thakur, a resident of Malyana.

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