'Red' rain alert in HP, schools to be closed in Shimla, Mandi for 2 days

Rains lashed parts of Himachal Pradesh on Tuesday and the meteorological office here issued a red alert predicting "heavy to very heavy" rainfall with isolated spells of "extremely heavy" rains in eight of its 12 districts during the night.

In view of the warning, Deputy Commissioners Aditya Negi of Shimla and Arindam Chaudhary of Mandi ordered the closure of all schools and colleges in their jurisdictions on Wednesday and Thursday. Bilaspur Deputy Commissioner Abid Hussian Sadiq said all educational institutions will remain closed on Wednesday.

The red alert was issued in the evening for parts of Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Solan, Sirmaur and Una districts as rains on Tuesday triggered some landslides in Mandi and hamirpur districts and uprooted trees in other areas.

No casualties were reported in this fresh bout of rains, so far. Earlier this month, about 80 people died in rain-related incidents, including major landslides in Shimla.

The Met also issued an orange alert warning of "heavy to very heavy rains" on Wednesday and Thursday, and a yellow warning of heavy rain on August 25 and 26.

It has predicted a wet spell in the state till August 28.

Himachal Pradesh has received six per cent deficit rainfall in August so far. The seasonal rainfall was 752.1 mm against a normal rainfall of 550.4 mm, an excess of 36 per cent.

As many as 227 people have died in rain-related disasters in Himachal while 38 are still missing since the onset of monsoon on June 24. Over 12,000 houses have been completely or partially damaged, according to the state emergency operation centre.

As per its data, the state has suffered losses of about Rs 8,100 crore and the loss estimates are still pouring in. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has claimed that the state has suffered losses of Rs 10,000 crores.