Heavy rains trigger landslides flash floods in Himachal Pradesh, traffic disrupted

Time of India

9 hours ago

Shimla: Heavy rains lashed Himachal Pradesh on Sunday, triggering landslides and flash floods and blocking more than 100 roads, even as the weather department issued a red alert.
A landslide at Chakki Mod near Parwanoo blocked the Chandigarh-Shimla highway for hours, resulting in a massive traffic jam Sunday morning. The local administration had to divert traffic through the Jangeshu link road until the landslide debris was cleared at Chakki Mod.
The traffic was first restored one-way and later two-way, but the traffic jam continued on both sides of the highway throughout the day due to slow vehicle movement caused by continuous rainfall.
A district official said the landslide was caused around 6:30 am by heavy rainfall that started Saturday evening. It may be mentioned that a huge landslide in 2023 wiped away an entire stretch of the highway at Chakki Mod, and it took the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) months to fully restore the road.
Landslides also disrupted the Shimla-Chamyana road and the Arki-Shalaghat road in Solan, blocking traffic movement for a few hours.
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According to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), a total of 129 roads were blocked in the state on Sunday, with the highest 57 roads in Sirmaur district, followed by 44 roads in Mandi district, 19 in Kullu, four each in Una and Solan, and one in Lahaul-Spiti district.
Many parts of the state were also plunged into darkness as a total of 612 transformers remained non-functional on Sunday, with the highest number of 340 transformers affected in Mandi district.
Six water supply schemes were also hit in Chamba, Shimla, and Lahaul Spiti districts.
The rain also disrupted the movement of six trains on the Kalka-Shimla heritage railway line as boulders and uprooted trees blocked the tracks at a few locations Sunday morning. A railway official said the trains were delayed for a few hours in the morning until the track was cleared.
"The movement of trains was halted on the Kalka-Shimla track at a few locations.
We cleared the track by 9 am, and thereafter all our trains were back on track," said the official.
Heavy rainfall also resulted in flash floods in many districts, including Mandi and Hamirpur, as rivers and rivulets across the state were in spate.
In Bilaspur district, the under-construction railway tunnel at Jagatkhana was flooded. As the water level in the Beas river increased, the flood gates of Pandoh dam in Mandi district were opened.
According to a Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) official: "The flood gates were opened as approximately 44,000 cusecs of water is currently flowing in the Beas river, and the silt level has risen to 4,000 parts per million (PPM)."
As per the Meteorological Centre, Shimla, Solan district recorded the highest rainfall of 98.3 mm on Sunday, followed by 73.2 mm in Mandi, 63.4 mm in Sirmaur, 42.8 mm in Shimla, 38.7 mm in Bilaspur, 32.2 mm in Hamirpur, and 30.8 mm in Kangra district.
Overall, the state recorded an average rainfall of 22.3 mm, which was 313% more than the normal of 5.4 mm.
Meanwhile, the Met office, Shimla, issued a red alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall on Sunday in the districts of Kangra, Mandi, Solan, and Sirmaur. The Met has issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rainfall on Monday in the districts of Una, Bilaspur, Kangra, Mandi, Solan, and Sirmaur.
The State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) informed that as many as 20 people had died this monsoon season since June 20 in Himachal Pradesh, and the state incurred a total loss of Rs 75.4 crore during the same period.
Five days after being washed away in the flash floods, two people in Sainj in Kullu and one near Dharamshala in Kangra district are still missing.
Eight labourers had been washed away in a flash flood in Manuni Khad in Khanyara near Dharamshala of Kangra district and three people went missing in another flash flood in the Siund area of Sainj valley in Kullu district. The search and rescue teams have so far recovered seven bodies in Khanyara and one in Sainj.
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