Heavy rainfall in Himachal Pradesh has caused massive loss to public property as a number of bridges, roads and retaining walls have been washed away by the infuriating streams of rain water.
The sudden rise of water in losar rivulet in lahaul-Spiti damaged the losar bridge resulting in disconnection of Spiti valley from the rest of the State. The streams from melting glaciers and the water of rains in the area resulted in sudden rise of water level in the rivulet, which disrupted vehicular traffic on Manali-Kaza road and Kaza and Spiti valley.
The vehicular traffic was affected by streams of another rivulet Dhorani in Spiti valley around 8 kilometer away from Koksar. The road was blocked in the night and long queues of traffic was witnessed on the roads leading to Kullu, Spiti and lahaul in the morning. However, the roads were later cleared by BRO. Arvind Awasthi, Commander BRO, said that heavy machinery was deployed to clear the blockades and the traffic was expected to be restored on all roads soon. In Kullu district too, Wednesday night brought a nightmare as incessant rains caused the retaining walls of roads to cave in at many places. The rain around midnight damaged retaining walls, and the horrific sounds of walls caving in at places forced people to come out of their houses out of fear. Manali recorded massive loss as many link roads are reported to have been washed out or affected by the land slides. The sudden rise of water level in river Beas and its tributaries also wreaked havoc with normal life.
The vehicular movement on Theog-Hatkoti road on Kotkhai-Nihari Junction came to a halt when an apple laden lorry was trapped in muck near Nihari. The blockade made by the lorry stopped movement of traffic and particularly affected the movement of apple laden Pickups or trucks. long queues of vehicles were seen on Kotkhai-Kharpather road due to blocked Kotkhai-Nihari Junction. Bus services were suspended on the junctions and passengers were swapped to the vehicles on both ends of the blockade. Deputy Commissioner, Shimla Rohan Chand Thakur said that PWD had suffered loss of more than 3 crore due to damage to roads. The Electricity Board too suffered loss. The rains have caused damage to private properties also in Shimla.