Met issues 'orange' alert for heavy rain in parts of Himachal, 103 rain-related deaths so far

An 'orange' alert has been issued for heavy rain at isolated places of Himachal Pradesh on Monday and Tuesday, the meteorological department said.

According to officials, 310 roads including a national highway were closed for vehicular moved in the state on Monday as moderate to heavy rainfall continued lashing parts of the state.

Landslide in Panthaghati in the suburbs of Shimla city led to obstruction of traffic on Mehli-Shogi bypass on Sunday night, with debris blocking the road and stones damaging some shops nearby, residents said.

The weather office has issued an 'orange' warning for heavy to very heavy rain at isolated places in the state for Monday and Tuesday.

Since Sunday evening, Kasauli received 82 mm of rain followed by 62.6 mm in Naina Devi, 60 mm in Jogindernagar, 49.2 mm in Brahmani, 45 mm in Manali, 29 mm in Guler, 27 mm in Pandoh, 26.2 mm in Karsog, 25.5 mm in Sarahan and 28 mm in Shimla, the Met said.

A total of 310 roads including NH 305 (Aut to Sainj) have been closed for vehicular traffic as of Monday morning. The majority of these, 171 roads, are in the disaster-affected Mandi district, while 68 are in Kullu district, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) informed.

Additionally, 113 power distribution transformers and 236 water supply schemes have been affected across the state, the SEOC added.

Since the onset of the monsoon on June 20, the state has incurred losses totalling Rs 1,714 crore till date.

According to the SEOC, as many as 1,649 houses have been fully or partially damaged in the state, with Himachal Pradesh witnessing 53 flash floods, 28 cloudbursts and 47 major landslides so far.

Officials said the number of rain-related deaths has reached 103 with 36 people still missing. The fatalities include 20 drownings, 19 deaths from falls, 17 deaths from cloudbursts, eight from flash floods, and six from landslides.