Heavy rains trigger landslides in HP; 1 killed

Normal life was thrown out of gear in Himachal Pradesh as heavy rains lashed some parts of the state triggering landslides while a 20-year-youth was killed after a huge rock caved in upon him.
A 50-mt stretch of Katola-Prashar road near Baggi in Mandi district was breached due to heavy rains and a large number of tourists on way to Prashar lake remained stranded for several hours.
However, the road has been temporarily opened for light vehicles, PW department officials said.
A 20-year-old youth, identified as Bhupendra, son of Puran Chand was buried alive under the rock which suddenly caved in after rains at a village near Jhakri in Shimla district, 145 km from here today, police said.

A graveyard at Kundia village in Paonta Sahib area was submerged after heavy rains and some newly dug graves had to be covered by tarpaulin.
Meanwhile, the 1,500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri project, 412 MW Rampur Project and 1,200 MW Karchham Wangtoo project in Shimla and Kinnaur district which were shut down due to alarming rise in silt level, resumed generation today as the silt levelcame down below permissible level of 4,000 ppm.

The power stations of these projects were shut down to avoid damage to turbines and heavy machinery as the silt level ranged between 8,000 and 27,000 ppm.
Heavy rains lashed some parts of the state and Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur district was wettest in the region with 87 mm rains while Jogindernagar and Shimla recorded 59 mm and 49 mm rains respectively, followed by Nahan 41 mm, Kheri 34 mm, Palampur 24 mm, Jubbarhatti and Bajaura 20 mm, Baijnath 19 mm, Rohru 18 mm, Manali 16 mm, Dalhousie 15 mm, Mandi 14 mm and Bhuntar 11m.

The maximum temperatures dropped by few notchesand Una which was hottest in the region, recorded a high of 32.4 degrees Celsius while Sundernagar and Bhuntar recorded maximum temperature at 30.6 degrees Celsius, and 28.6 degrees Celsius, followed by Dharamsala 27.2 degrees Celsius, Solan 25.5 degrees Celsius, Nahan 25.2 degrees Celsius, Shimla 21.4 degrees Celsius and Kalpa 17 degrees Celsius.
There was no significant change in minimum temperatures and Kalpa, Dharamsala and Manali recorded a low of 15 degrees Celsius, 15.8 degrees Celsius and 16 degrees Celsius while Shimla recorded minimum temperature at 16.8 degrees Celsius.
Keylong in tribal Lahaul and Spiti district was warmer with minimum and maximum temperatures staying at 16.9 degrees Celsius and 30.3 degrees Celsius while Una was hottest during the night also with a high of 27.5 degrees Celsius.

The local MeT office has warned of heavy to very heavy rains at isolated places in the state tomorrow and also predicted rains or thundershowers at most places in lower, mid and higher hills over next six days from tomorrow onwards.