A cloudburst in Mohron village of Sirmaur in the wee hours today caused extensive damage to crops while uninterrupted torrential rain threw normal life out of gear in the district.
Though no loss of life was reported, but gushing rain waters washed away standing Kharif crops on 40 bighas of land and a 30-feet deep depression was created on the land, official sources said.
Tula Ram Sharma, former president of Nehli Dheera panchayat told PTI over phone that the cloudburst occurred around 3.30 am.
"The cloudburst caused about 30 feet deep fissures and washed away 40 bighas of agriculture land downstream of the Jalal River, leading to huge losses," he said.
Manmohan Singh, Additional District Magistrate, Sirmaur said tehsildar Nahan has left for Mohron village along with revenue department officials to oversee relief and rescue work and to assess the loss.
About 30 roads including Mohron-Nahan, Nahan-Chandigarh, Nahan-Shimla and Nahan-Renuka links were closed due to landslides triggered by heavy rains, but were opened by the afternoon.
More than two dozen HRTC and private buses were stranded at various points due to landslides and breaches on roads, officials said.
Meanwhile, the water level touched danger mark after very heavy rains in the catchment areas of Sirmaur district.
Nahan and Renuka recorded 207 mm and 190 mm rains in the past 10 hours while Manali received 38 mm and Dharamsala 26 mm of rains.
Day temperatures dropped marginally and Una was hottest in the region with a high of 32.6 deg C while Solan recorded a maximum temperature of 26.5 deg C, followed by Shimla 24.5 deg C and Kalpa 22 deg C.
The MeT office has predicted rain and thundershowers at many places in the next 72 hours across the state.
