Snowfall, rain send several places sub-zero in Himachal, render 405 roads shut; avalanche warning issued

Shimla: Authorities on Wednesday issued avalanche warning for several areas in the state as cold wave got further aggravated following fresh snowfall and rain in the tribal and hilly region.

The Defence Geoinformatics Research Establishment (DGRE), Chandigarh, has issued an avalanche warning for high altitude areas of Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur, Shimla, Chamba and Kullu districts till Thursday.

Sixty-one people have died due to landslides, falling from height, drowning and fire since January 1 in the state. Two people went missing.

A total of 405 roads, including four national highways, were rendered shut by snow and 577 electricity transformers were disrupted, the state emergency response centre said.

Lahaul and Spiti had the most number of roads, 288, closed, followed by Chamba and Kullu, which had 83 and 21 roads rendered unnavigable.

Koksar and Atal Tunnel received 45 cm of snow, followed by Sissu and Kothi, which got 30 cm.

Keylong, Kusumseri, and Bharmour got 18 cm, 15.3 cm, and 8 cm of snow. Manali was wettest with 29 mm of rain, followed by Salooni, and Tissa, and Chamba, which got 25.3 mm, 20 mm, 16 mm of it.

Seobagh and Baijnath got 11 mm and 8.0 mm of rain.

Minimum temperatures across the region dropped by a few notches, with several places shivering under sub-zero temperatures.

Kusumseri was coldest in the state with a low of minus 7.1 degrees, followed by Sumdo minus 2 degrees, Bharmour and Kalpa minus 1.2 degrees, Narkanda minus 0.5 degrees, Manali minus 0.1 degrees, and Shimla 2.9 degrees.

Rain over the past few days has reduced the seasonal winter rain deficit from 58 per cent to 34 per cent.

The state received 104.2 mm against a normal of 158 mm from January 1 to February 21.

The local Meteorological station has predicted dry weather in lower and mid hills for the next four days and rain or snow at isolated places in higher hills on Thursday and Saturday, followed by another wet spell on February 26 and 27.