Landslips hit Shimla

Life in the hill State of Himachal was badly hit as heavy rain continued for the second day on Saturday.

All roads, including highways and link roads, got severely affected with landslips, flash floods, mudslips and uprooting of trees occurring at various places. Traffic on the Manali-Leh highway was disrupted for several hours since Friday night. Owing to several mudslips in rural Shimla and Kinnaur districts, vehicles mainly carrying tourists, got stuck at various places.

According to reports, Chokhang village in the tribal district of Lahaul-Spiti was badly affected by the flash floods and peas and potato crop on a massive area got washed away.

The local administration was trying to restore the essential services, said local MLA Ravi Thakur. “We will tell officials to assess the loss to the standing crops, he said.

In the plains, Una district recorded about 260 mm of rainfall in the last 48 hours posing flood threat downstream. With the silt level increasing , power production in Larji and BBMB projects has been affected.

Owing to water release from the Pandoh dam, high alert was sounded downstream. Paonta Sahib in the Sirmaur district recorded 150 mm rainfall and Nahan about 70 mm, said the officials.

During the heavy showers, the BJP MLA from Nahan, Rajiv Bindal, and his supporters stopped the Chief Minister’s convoy at Rampur-Bharapur and demanded that the local primary health centre not be shifted but strengthened. Their demand was accepted by the Chief Minister on the spot.

Dharampur in Mandi got 83 mm rainfall, Kasauli 61 mm, Kandaghat, Sangrah and Rajgarh 49 mm each, Berthin in Bilaspur 45 mm and Guler in Kangra 44 mm, Nagrota Surian 42 mm, Rohru in Shimla district and Arki in Solan 40 mm each.

The weather department has issued an advisory to all district collectors to tell people to keep the advised distance from all water sources. Owing to moderate snowfall on the higher peaks, trekkers have been advised to avoid mountain climbing.