Yellow alert of heavy rain for next two days
The local Met office on Wednesday issued a yellow alert of heavy rains, thunderstorms and lightning at isolated places in five out of 12 districts of Himachal Pradesh on Thursday and Friday, and predicted a wet spell in the state till September 17.
The MeT said that heavy rains could lash parts of Kinnaur, Sirmaur, Solan, Shimla and Bilaspur districts and also cautioned of the possibility of damage to plantations, crops, vulnerable structures and kutcha houses.
A total of 37 roads are closed for vehicular traffic in the state. A maximum of 10 roads are each closed in Mandi and Kangra, six in Shimla, four in Sirmaur, three each in Bilaspur and Kullu and one in Una district, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said. As many as 106 power schemes are also disrupted in the state, the SEOC said. Intermittent moderate rains continued to lash the state and Nahan recorded 86.4 mm of rain since Tuesday evening followed by Poanta Sahib 46.4 mm, Dharamshala 35.4 mm, Chamba 30.5 mm, Jot 28 mm and Manali 25 mm.
Himachal Pradesh’s rainfall deficit since the onset of monsoon in the state on June 27 stands at 20 per cent, with the state receiving 538.5 mm rainfall against an average of 674.2 mm. The officials said that 158 people died in rain-related incidents during the ongoing monsoon season from June 27 till September 7, while 30 are still missing. The state has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 1,305 crore, they said.
