Four injured in house collapse due to heavy rains on HP

At least four persons were today injured when the slab of an under construction house collapsed here today due to heavy rains in Himachal Pradesh, officials said today.

Moderate to heavy rains occurred at many places in the state, affecting normal life, while cloudburst wreaked havoc in Chamba and Manali, the Meteorological (MeT) said.

Half-a-dozen water mills and 100 m stretch of the Chamba-Chaju highway were washed away in the cloudburst at Bagheigarh village which caused massive damage and report of it is being prepared, Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Churah, Hem Chand said.

The Kullu-Manali highway was closed due to landslides and rescue teams are engaged in clearing the roads and shifting the people living on the banks of nullahs, the officials said.

A large number of vehicles were stranded on the highway.

Four labourers were injured when the slab of an under construction house collapsed following rains in Jghot area near Kusumpti in periphery of Shimla town.

The rains triggered landslides, closing link roads in the interior areas and uprooted trees, disrupting power supply in some areas, the officials said.

Widespread rains occurred in the state till this evening and Ghamroor was wettest in the state with 49 mm rains, while Naina Devi, Manali, Kufri and Shimla recorded32 mm , 28 mm, 26 mm and 24 mm, followed by Kandaghat 19 mm, Dalhousie 18 mm, Jwali 13 mm and Guler and Kotkhai 12 mm rains.

The mercury stayed close to normal and Manali, Keylong and Kalpa recorded minimum temperatures at 13.4 degrees Celsius, 13.5 degrees Celsius and 14.4 degrees Celsius, followed by Shimla 16.5 degrees Celsius, Dharamsala 18.8 degrees Celsius, Solan 20.4 degrees Celsius and Una 25.3 degrees Celsius.

Una was hottest during the day with a high of 34 degrees Celsius, while Shimla was coldest with the maximum temperature at 22.3 degrees Celsius.

The local Meteorological (MeT) office has warned of heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in the lower and mid hills on July 22 and 23 and also forecast rains or thundershowers at many places in the mid and lower hills and rains or snow in the higher hills for the next six days from July 19 to July 24.