One of the heaviest rain of the past 40 years in the entire Beas valley has paralyzed normal life in Mandi, Kulu and Bilaspur districts. Traffic, telecommunications, water and power supply have been severely affected.
In Mandi region alone, the HRTC has suspended bus services on as many as 40 routes due to heavy landslides mostly on the rural roads of Mandi district. The supply of milk and green vegetables has been affected.
A minor cloud burst in the Gandharva rivulet adjoining the Regional Hospital played havoc and caused massive loss to property on Sunday night. Debris from the hill entered into about 30 shops besides the gynaecological wing of the Regional Hospital. The boundary wall of the hospital was also washed away as heavy debris struck it.
The entire hill atop the hospital is sinking and it is feared that it might fall on the campus of the hospital. The panicked residents did not sleep all over
the night.
The Superintending Engineer, Kehar Singh along with his team of engineers inspected the scene of disaster in the hospital campus. He said the work of repairing and restoring the traffic would be taken up on a war-footing.
All the three national highways passing from the district remained blocked for about nine hours. Heavy machines have been pressed into service to open the traffic. Hundreds of vehicles have been stranded at various points due to landslides. Traffic on as many as 100 routes has come to a grinding halt. The rain is still continuing intermittently posing threat to life and property. The roads between Mandi and Kulu and the one leading to Pathankot and Manali also remained blocked with the falling of big rocks on the road. Traffic near Urla and Darang also blocked Jogindernagar Mandi road as huge rocks slipped on the road. However, no loss of life has been reported so far. 37 buses of the HRTC have been stuck at various points in the district, said Divisional Manager, HRTC.