Himachal: Fear of death kept us awake all night, says resident of flood-affected village

Shimla: Fear of death kept us awake all night as we climbed to a mountain to stay safe, residents of Rajban village in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi district said on Friday, two days after a cloudburst left three people dead and seven missing.

Flash floods triggered by cloudburst also washed away two houses and damaged another in this village near Terang in the Padhar subdivision on Wednesday night.

According to officials, bodies of Chandi Devi (75), Chaitri Devi (90) and Baijru Ram (80) were recovered and an injured person (25-year-old Ram Singh) was rescued in serious condition on Thursday.

"Bodies of my father-in-law and mother-in-law have been recovered but my son, my brother-in-law, his wife and their six-year-old son and two-month-old daughter are still missing," a wailing woman told PTI Videos.

"I live above the hill but my son was with his grandparents," she added.

"We rushed out of our houses after hearing screams of people and found that houses nearby have been swept in landslides and flash floods," another villager said.

"Fear of death kept us awake all night as we climbed to a mountain to stay safe," the villager added.

Five people were killed and over 45 are missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh, where rain washed away many houses, bridges and roads, the officials said on Thursday. According to the state emergency operation centre, the cloudbursts took place in Nirmand, Sainj and Malana areas in Kullu, Padhar in Mandi and Rampur in Shimla districts on Wednesday night.

Damaged houses, wailing relatives with fading hope narrated a tale of horror in the Sanej area of Rampur subdivision of Shimla district, where over 30 people are missing after the disaster struck.

"I heard the sound of gushing water and came out of my house only to find the area around flooded. I immediately rushed to a safe place with my family," Nali Ram, a senior citizen who along with his family members managed to escape the flash flood, said.

A cloudburst near Shrikhand Mahadev on Wednesday night triggered flash floods in Sarpara, Ganvi and Kurban nallahs, as a result, the water in Samej Khud in Shimla district's Rampur rose, leaving two people dead and about 30 missing, Shimla Superintendent of Police Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told PTI.

The swelling of Samej Khud resulted in havoc in Shimla and Kullu districts.

"My father-in-law who was working on a project has been missing since last night and I along with other relatives came here in search of him," a person named Neel Dutt said.

Mohan Lal Kaptiya, Pradhan of Sarpara Panchayat, claimed that about 29-30 houses, primary health centre and school have been washed away in the flash floods in Samej area. A resident of Kullu's Malana village, Maini Devi (32), said that around 3 am, there was a huge sound from the Malana Dam site downstream and in the morning we got to know that it was breached.

Road connectivity to Malana village is cut off, triggering people to go hoarding for essential commodities, causing the village shops to go dry, Devi added.

Since the onset of monsoon on June 27, 73 people have died in rain-related incidents and the state has also suffered losses to the tune of Rs 649 crore, according to the state's Emergency Operation Centre.