One killed in cloudburst in Himachal, Met dept warns of heavy rains

Shimla: A person died due to a cloudburst triggered by heavy rain in Himachal Pradesh's Sirmaur district as 26 roads, including a national highway, were closed due to bad weather in the district, officials said on Thursday.

Heavy rains lashed several parts of the state closing around 50 roads since Wednesday evening taking the total number of roads closed in the state to 71, including NH-707, they said.

A cloudburst at Parloni village caused the death of one person while shops and other infrastructure was damaged after a 'gharat' (water mill) collapsed in Amboya area of Poanta subdivision of the district, Sirmaur Deputy Commissioner Sumit Khimta told the PTI on Thursday.

The deceased, identified as Rangi, was buried under the debris.

Some roads have been disrupted and the water level in Yamuna river has also increased, the officer said, adding that educational institutions have been closed for a day in Poanta Sahib and Shallai areas of the district.

According to the met officials, Dhaulakuan in Sirmaur district was the state's wettest place, recording 275 mm of rain followed by Poanta Sahib with 165.6 mm, Nahan 94.4 mm, Dharamshala 54 mm, Jubbarhatti 43.2 mm, Mandi 42.2 mm, Palampur 39 mm, Kangra 38.3 mm and Dehra Gopipur 38 mm.

A maximum of 26 roads are closed in Sirmaur followed by 24 in Mandi, ten in Kangra, nine in Shimla and two in Kullu district, while 469 power supply schemes have been affected, as per the state emergency operation centre (SEOC).

There were reports of rain and erratic power supply in several areas, including in Shimla and Hamirpur districts.

The local weather office issued an 'orange' heavy rain alert in isolated parts of the state for Thursday and yellow warning of thunderstorm and lightning on Friday.

It also warned of low to moderate flash flood risk in parts of seven out of 12 districts, including Shimla, Sirmaur Kangra, Chamba, Solan, Kullu and Mandi till Friday.

People especially the school-going children and office goers faced inconvenience during the morning hours as dense fog engulfed the areas amid continuing rain, said Sanjeev, a local in Shimla.

The rain deficit in the current monsoon season (from June 1 onwards) was 19 per cent with Himachal Pradesh receiving 590.4 mm rainfall against a normal of 729.5 mm, the local Met office said on Wednesday.

Officials said that 183 people have died in rain-related incidents since the onset of monsoon till Wednesday evening, while 28 were missing. The state has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 1,332 crore, they said.