Himachal rains: Another body recovered from landslide-hit area of Shimla; 8 buildings collapse in Kullu

The buildings were declared unsafe and vacated recently, Sub Divisional Magistrate Naresh Verma said.

At least eight vacant buildings collapsed on Thursday in rain-battered Himachal Pradesh's Kullu district, while one more body was recovered from the site of a landslide at the Shiv temple.

There were no casualties in the building collapse incident in Kullu's Anni area.

So far 25 bodies have been recovered from the debris of the three major landslides in Shimla alone -- at the Shiv temple in Summer Hill (18) and in Fagli (5) and Krishnanagar (2), SP, Shimla, Sanjeev Kumar Gandhi told PTI.

While one body was pulled out on Thursday, two more bodies are still buried in the debris. The body has been identified as that of Neeraj, a resident of Summer Hill.

About 120 people have died in rain-related incidents in the state this month while a total of 239 people have died and 40 are still missing since the onset of monsoon in Himachal Pradesh on June 24.

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM), Anni, Naresh Verma said seven to eight buildings, housing shops, banks and other commercial establishments besides houses had developed cracks four-five days ago.

The buildings were declared unsafe and vacated recently, he said.

The assessment of damage is being done and some other unsafe buildings along the National Highway-305 in Anni have also been vacated as a precautionary measure, the official added.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Thursday claimed that the state has suffered losses of Rs 12,000 crore so far.

Rains, meanwhile, continued to lash several parts of Himachal. While Palampur received 137 mm of rain since Wednesday evening, Nahan received 93 mm, Shimla 79 mm, Dharamshala 70 mm and Mandi 57 mm.

The local Met office issued a yellow warning of heavy rains on August 25 and predicted a wet spell in the state till August 30.

As many as 530 roads are closed in the state and several parts were without electricity as 2,897 transformers were disrupted, said Principal Secretary (revenue) Onkar Chand Sharma.  

Himachal saw three major spells of heavy rains this monsoon. The first on July 9 and 10 led to large-scale destruction in Mandi and Kullu districts. Shimla and Solan districts were hit during the second spell on August 14 and 15 and Shimla city suffered heavy damage in the third spell on Tuesday night.

The National Highway between Mandi-Kullu has been severely impacted due to heavy landslip near Pandoh and relief camps have been set up along the stretch of Pandoh and Aut besides Bajaura.