Child dies as heavy rains trigger landslides in Himachal

Shimla :  A five-month old child died in a landslide as heavy rains wreaked havoc in Himachal Pradesh, disrupting normal life in many parts of the state and severing road links in Kangra district. The baby was buried alive when a landslide destroyed a house in Chirgaon area of Rohru in Shimla district today while Kangra, Dharamshala and Palampur received heavy rainfall leading to flooding of roads and houses.

All the rivers and their tributaries are in spate while nullahs are overflowing in several parts of Kangra district. Dharamshala McLeod Ganj road was blocked due to massive landslide. Link roads were also affected at most places in interior areas of Kangra. The heavy rains have increased the silt level in Satluj River and gates of 1200 Karcham Wangtoo and 1500 Natpha Jhakri project are being opened for flushing out the silt.

Deputy Commissioner,Shimla, Rohan Chand Thakur has warned the people residing near the banks of Satluj to Sunni to avoid going near the river bank as rise in water level can cause flash floods. Heavy to very heavy rains lashed several parts of the state as monsoon remained active.

The local MeT department has warned of heavy rains in lower and mid hills on July 19 and 20 and heavy rains and snow in high hills on July 19. The wet spell in the region is expected to continue for six days after that up to July 24.

Palampur which received 192 mm of rains in the past 24 hours was wettest in the region followed by Jogindernagar 160 mm, Banjar 145 mm, Kheri 140 mm, Nagrotasurian 132 mm, Dharamshala 125 mm, Baijnath 122, Hamirpur 78 mm and Gaggal 69 mm. Kasauli and Bhoranj received 22 mm rainfall each.

There was no significant change in the minimum and maximum temperatures and Salooni with a low of 12.5 degree was the coldest at night followed by Manali 14 degree. Shimla recorded 17.4 degree celsius, Dharamshala 17.8 degree and Keylong 18.3 degree C while Una at 36 degree was the hottest.