Himachal Pradesh: Following heavy rainfall, all major rivers are in flood and five people died in landslides

Heavy rains battered Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, causing landslides and flash floods, destroying homes, and paralysing daily life. Schools and colleges were shut down for two days. Five people died as a result.

The local met office has issued a new red warning of exceptionally high rainfall (over 204 mm) on July 9 in ten out of twelve districts, with the exception of the tribal districts of Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti. All major rivers are in spate, according to authorities.

According to the state emergency operation centre, 14 large landslides, 13 flash floods, and over 700 road closures have been recorded in the last 36 hours.

There have also been several reports of agricultural land damage, automobiles being carried away in flash floods at Nullah in Kullu, Kinnaur, and Chamba, and stores being washed away in Manali. Additionally, a number of highways in Shimla districts have been blocked.

In the Kotgarh region of the Shimla district, a home collapsed after a landslip caused by rain, killing three family members. According to authorities, the dead were Anil, his wife Kiran, and son Swapnil.

A lady was killed when a temporary dwelling near Kullu town was destroyed by a landslip. In a another occurrence, a person was buried alive when a landslip occurred in the Chamba district’s Katiyan tehsil on Saturday night.

Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, the chief minister, sent his sympathies and said that the district government had been instructed to provide the afflicted families urgent help.

200 people might have been stuck in Chandratal, Lahaul and Spiti. The local police superintendent, Mayank Chaudhary, said that all the residents are safe and that food and needed medications have been organised.

He predicted that they will be saved in a matter of days once the road is repaired.

All state-affiliated public and private schools and institutions will be closed on July 10 and 11 by the Himachal Pradesh government.

Director of the Higher Education Department Amarjeet Sharma said in an office order issued here that schools associated with the ICSE, CBSE, and other boards might decide to close schools at their own level.

1,743 transformers, 138 water supply systems, and up to 736 highways have been restricted to traffic as of Sunday morning.

NH-21 Mandi to Kullu, NH-505 Gramphu to Locar, NH-03 Kullu to Manali, NH-305 Aut to Jalori, and NH-707 Rohru to Poanta Sahib close to Shillai in Sirmaur district were among the national roads that were shut.

The location known as 6 Mile is where National Highway 21 is blocked. This is the same location where a landslip stopped commuters for over 24 hours on June 27 of last year. Near Ghoda farm, the Mandi-Kullu route through Kamand was also shut down. Near Manali, the Manali-Chandigarh also collapsed in.

Tourists and commuters have been advised to stay away from travelling during severe rainstorms and to stay away from river bodies since all the main rivers, including the Ravi, Beas, Satluj, Swan, and Chenab, are in spate.

According to Kullu’s deputy commissioner, Ashutosh Garg, landslides have closed the Kullu-Manali route in a number of locations. Traffic from Kullu to Manali and Manali to Atal Tunnel has been stopped because the Beas River is overflowing at Ramshela.

According to him, the Mandi-Kullu route has also seen landslides, and only emergency vehicles are permitted on this section. Tourists and locals have been encouraged by the authorities to stay inside during periods of severe rain.

Due to many landslides and fallen trees blocking the railway track, all trains between the UNESCO-designated Shimla and Kalka tracks have been cancelled.

On the Chandigarh-Manali highway, four visitors had a precarious escape on Saturday night when a boulder just missed their car near Chadol. The tragedy happened when the visitors were travelling to Manali, and the villagers came to their aid.

Authorities in Lahaul and Spiti on Saturday night were able to rescue 30 college students who were stuck between Gramphu and Chota Dharra on Sundo-kaza-Gramphu (National Highway 505) as a result of a blockade caused by landslides and flash floods at several locations.

Over the previous 24 hours, various areas of the state have seen significant to very heavy rain.

Nangal Dam at Bilaspur received 282.5mm rain followed by Dehra Gopipur 175.4 mm, Una 166.2 mm, Chamba 146.5 mm, Dalhousie 143 mm, Nahan and Manali 131.2 mm, Bilaspur 130 mm, Dharamsala 126.4 mm, Gondla 112 mm, Kangra 108 mm, Solan 107 mm, Jubbarhatti 103 mm, Bhuntar 101 mm, Palampur 94 mm, Narkanda 88 mm, Sundernagar 83 mm, Mandi 80 mm, Shimla 79.4 mm and Mashobra 70 mm.

A few watersheds in the Chamba, Kangra, Kullu, Shimla, Sirmaur, and Mandi districts have received high flash flood warnings from the local met office.