400 roads closed in Himachal, IMD predicts heavy rains till August 30

A total of 400 roads including two national highways are closed for vehicular traffic in Himachal Pradesh as moderate to heavy rains continued to lash parts of the state, officials said on Sunday.

Among these, 221 roads were closed in Mandi district and 102 in the adjoining Kullu. National Highway 3 (Mandi-Dharampur road) and NH 305 (Aut-Sainj road) were also closed, the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) said.

According to officials, 208 power supply transformers and 51 water supply schemes were disrupted in the state.

The local meteorological office has issued a yellow warning for heavy rain in isolated areas of two to seven districts in the state till August 30.

Moderate to heavy rains lashed several parts of the state since Saturday night with Pandoh recording the highest rainfall of 123 mm, followed by 105 mm in Kasauli, 104.6 mm in Jot, and 68 mm in Mandi and Karsog.

Nadaun logged 52.8 mm rainfall followed by 54 mm in Jogindernagar, 44.7 mm in Baggi, 44.6 mm in Dharampur, 40.6 mm in Bhattiyat, 33.2 mm in Palampur, 31.5 mm in Neri and 30mm in Sarahan, the weather office said.

Thunderstorms occurred in Sundernagar, Shimla, Bhuntar, Jot, Murari Devi, Jubbarhatti and Kangra, the MeT added.

Since the onset of monsoon on June 20 in Himachal Pradesh, at least 152 people have died and 37 have gone missing, the SEOC informed.

The state has witnessed 75 flash floods, 40 cloudbursts and 74 major landslides so far, and a total of 97 power supply transformers and 51 water supply schemes have been disrupted.

Himachal Pradesh has incurred losses to the tune of Rs 2,347 crore in rain-related incidents, it said.

The state received 662.3 mm average rains during the current monsoon season from June 1 to August 24 against an average of 571.4 mm, an excess of 16 per cent.