64 dead in Himachal Pradesh since monsoon's onset; wet spell to be on till Aug 12

Since monsoon hit the state late in June, 64 people have died in rain-related incidents, including 14 landslides and one instance of flash flood, officials said on Thursday, August 6.

Administration has pegged the losses to the state at Rs 797 crore.

A total of 120 roads are closed in Himachal Pradesh, while 60 water supply schemes and 39 transformers were disrupted as of Thursday evening, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC).

The old Hindustan-Tibet road (National Highway 5), which was rendered inaccessible at Negulsari in Kinnaur district after a landslide, was reopened for vehicular traffic, officials said.

Thirty-eight roads were still blocked in Mandi, 31 in Kullu, 26 in Sirmaur, 13 in Shimla, five each in Chamba and Kangra, and two in Una district.

The Shimla Met office on Thursday issued a yellow alert of heavy rain in isolated places in the state till August 12.

Moderate to heavy rain continues to wet parts of Himachal Pradesh.

In the past 24 hours since Wednesday, Manali received 65 mm of rainfall, followed by Dharamshala, which got 64 mm.

Nahan received rainfall of 63.2 mm, Naina Devi 62.8 mm, Shimla 35.2 mm, Kasol 32 mm, and Sarahan 30.1 mm. Thunderstorms and lightning struck Sundernagar.

Kukumseri was the coldest at 12.5 degrees Celsius, while Hamirpur was the hottest at 32 degrees Celsius.