Shimla, Sep 1 (PTI) Four people, including a 35-year-old man and his daughter, were killed in the past 24 hours in separate incidents of landslides in Shimla district as heavy rain pounded several places
in Himachal Pradesh.
Shimla district, which has received 115.8 mm of rain since Sunday evening, has been the worst-hit.
Six trains plying on the Shimla-Kalka track have been cancelled following landslips, and 793 roads are closed in the state.
The local Met office on Monday issued a red alert, warning of extremely heavy rain in isolated areas in six districts till Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday informed the state assembly that with the recovery of four more bodies from Kugti between Hadsar and Manimahesh Lake, the number of devotees killed during the Manimahesh Yatra since its start on August 15 has risen to 16.
Hadsar is the place in Bharmaur area of Chamba district from where the walk to Manimahesh starts. About 20 porters have been arranged to bring back four bodies recovered in Kugti village located at an altitude of 8,500 feet, said Sukhu.
Out of 15,000 pilgrims stranded on the route, 10,000 have been safely evacuated, he added.
A landslide overnight killed Virender Kumar and his ten-year-old daughter in the Dubloo area of Junga on the outskirts of Shimla town, officials said, adding that Virender's wife, who was outside the house, survived.
In another incident, an elderly woman was buried early on Monday after her house in Chol village of Shimla's Kotkhai area collapsed on her. She was identified as Kalawati, and her body was retrieved from the debris.
A 23-year-old woman, yet to be identified, died in another landslide in Badhal village of Jubbal in Shimla, the officials said.
Another house collapsed in the Chauras area of Sirmaur.
A woman went missing, while 10 people of four families were evacuated in Dyal Mori village of Rohru area of Shimla district late Sunday night following a landslide.
A rise in the level of the Shikdi rivulet has caused panic among people living near it.
"Four families were residing in three houses. The landslide completely buried two cowsheds and endangered adjoining houses," Rohru Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Ramesh Dhamotra said.
After the rescue, families of Kuldeep, Sandeep, Pradeep, and Sonfu Ram were housed elsewhere in the same village, he said.
A wall of Shimla's Portmore Government Model School collapsed. No casualty was reported in the incident.
A tree was on the verge of being uprooted and loomed precariously above a transformer, a residential building, and staff quarters of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Limited, the officials said.
Landslides in different parts of the state capital led to outages and disruption in water supply.
The water supply would continue to be hit in the coming days due to high turbidity.
Landslides happened at multiple locations in Solan district and hit railway operations.
According to the Railways, train numbers 52451, 52453, and 52459 scheduled to depart from Kalka to Shimla, and 52452, 52454 and 52460 from Shimla to Kalka stood cancelled.
The train service will not resume until the track is cleared and declared safe for operations, an official said.
The Chandigarh-Manali National Highway was blocked after a huge mountain slide near Mansar on Monday morning.
"Educational institutions were closed in most parts of Shimla district on Monday," Education Minister Rohit Thakur said.
Thakur, who is also the local MLA from Jubbal-Kotkhai, the heart of the apple belt, said about 1.30 crore of apple boxes (50 per cent of the apple produce) have been transported to the markets.
Light snowfall happened in Sarchu and Chandertal of the Lahaul and Spiti district, leading authorities to issue a cautionary advisory to commuters.
Since Sunday evening, heavy to extremely heavy rains have lashed several parts of the state.
Nangal Dam received 220 mm of rain, the highest , followed by Raipur Maidan 215 mm, Naina Devi 192 mm, Solan 187 mm, Nahan 177.8 mm, Jatton Barrage 170 mm, and Kasauli 135 mm.
Dadahu received 134 mm of rain, Malraon 132 mm, Rohru 130 mm, Dharampur 124.6 mm, Una 117.4 mm and Shimla 115.8 mm, Paonta Sahib 109.6 mm, Kandaghat 108.2 mm, Jubbarhatti 108 mm, and Berthin 102 mm of it.
A total of 793 roads, including NH 3 (Mandi-Dharampur road), NH 305 (Aut-Sainj), NH 5 (Old Hindustan-Tibet road), NH 707 (Hatkoti to Poanta road), and NH 907 (Poanta to YamunaNagar), were blocked in 10 out of 12 districts in the state, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said.
While no update on closure of roads was available from Chamba and Shimla, at least 266 roads were closed in Mandi and 177 in the Kullu district.
As many as 2,174 power transformers and 365 water supply schemes have been disrupted across the state, according to the SEOC.
From the onset of monsoon in Himachal on June 20, the state has witnessed 91 flash floods, 45 cloudbursts and 95 major landslide incidents.
In all, 320 people have died in rain-related incidents and road accidents, SEOC data showed.
As many as 4,098 houses have been fully or partially damaged.
The state has suffered losses to the tune of Rs 3,056 crore this monsoon so far. PTI BPL KVK
KVK
