Several houses, shops inundated in Palampur; traffic, power supply hit

Palampur, July 6

Heavy rain damaged several houses in the lower areas of Palampur town on Friday night. Power supply and vehicular traffic was also disrupted. Floodwater entered many houses at Ghuggar, Lohana, Aima and Suggar areas, damaging properties.

The situation was worse at Ghuggar where a local rivulet was overflowing and the floodwater entered houses and shops, causing heavy damage. In a hardware shop, cement and other goods stacked in the godown were totally damaged. Household goods of a family were washed away in the floodwater at Suggar adjoining Palampur town. Another family had a narrow escape when its house at Lohana on the outskirts of Palampur collapsed.

The downpour exposed the preparations of the district administration as all roads were water-logged and most of the drains in the town were choked. In many parts of the town, a number of hanging trees fell onto the roads. Traffic on the Pathankot-Mandi highway remained suspended for hours after uprooted trees fell on it.

Palampur Mayor Gopal Nag along with Municipal Commissioner Ashish Sharma visited the flood-hit areas and extended all-possible assistance to the affected families. Sarthak Sood, Assistant Engineer, Public Works Department, deployed manpower and machines to clear the blocked roads and the choked drains.

Meanwhile, the Mayor admitted that because of dangerously-hanging trees in many parts of the town people were spending sleepless nights. He said that the SDM, Palampur, could alone take the decision to axe these trees. Heavy rain also lashed many parts of Baijnath, including the Chhota Bhangal area, and Jaisinghpur subdivision in the past 24 hours. The Beas and its tributaries were in spate. Several roadswere blocked due to heavy landslides. The movement of vehicular traffic to remote areas was suspended and no bus moved beyond Multhan.