Over 100 roads shut in Himachal amid heavy rains, Met sounds yellow alert

Shimla: Heavy rains continued to lash several parts of Himachal Pradesh on Monday, blocking vehicular movement on 107 roads and disrupting 91 power schemes, officials said.

The Shimla Meteorological Department has sounded a 'yellow' alert for heavy rain in isolated parts of the state till Wednesday and cautioned of the possibility of damage to plantations, crops, vulnerable structures and kutcha houses.

The state emergency operation centre said 48 roads are shut in Shimla, 24 each in Mandi and Kullu, seven in Kangra, two in Kinnaur, one each in Sirmaur and Una districts.

The rains also disrupted 91 power and 36 water supply schemes in the state, the centre said.

According to the rainfall data from Sunday evening till Monday 5 pm, Naina Devi was the wettest in the state recording 142.6 mm rainfall, followed by Baijnath 120 mm, Guler 78.4 mm, and Ghaghas 60.4 mm.

Bilaspur received 60.7 mm rains, Jogindernagar 57 mm, Bharari 50.4 mm, Dharamshala 51.8 mm, Berthin 51 mm, Palampur 47 mm, Kangra 44.8 mm, Sundernagar 33.6 mm, Mandi 34.5 mm, Shimla 22.5 mm and Chamba 21 mm, the data showed.

Himachal Pradesh's rainfall deficit since the monsoon onset on June 27 till August 16 stood at 22 per cent with the state receiving 418 mm rainfall against an average of 535.4 mm.

Officials said 126 people were killed in rain-related incidents and the state suffered losses of about Rs 1,173 crore between June 27 and August 19.

On Monday, Kukumseri in the tribal Lahaul and Spiti district was the coldest place in the state, recording a night temperature of 9.8 degrees Celsius, while Una was the hottest with a high of 33.4 degrees Celsius.