As monsoon continues to wreak havoc in the hill state, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Monday sounded a low to moderate alert of flashflood risk in ten districts of Himachal Pradesh for 24 hours.
Search and rescue operations are underway with drones and sniffer dogs being used to trace 28 people who went missing after cloudbursts, flash floods and landslides wrecked Thunag, Gohar and Karsog subdivisions of Mandi district last week, officials said on Monday.
Personnel from the National and State Disaster Response Forces, army, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and Home Guards, along with the administration and locals, are undertaking the search and rescue work. Besides, teams are also gathering information and distributing ration and medical kits in inaccessible areas, officials said.
The alert was issued for Bilaspur, Chamba, Hamirpur, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur, Solan and Una. The weather office said surface run-off or inundation may occur at some fully saturated soils and low-lying areas due to expected rainfall occurrence. The spells of heavy rainfall are expected to continue at isolated places in parts of the state in coming days, however, no orange alert has been sounded in the coming days.
For July 8 and 9, a yellow alert of heavy rainfall has been sounded in four districts, including Una, Bilaspur, Solan and Sirmaur. However, on July 10, only Sirmaur is under yellow alert.
{{/usCountry}}For July 8 and 9, a yellow alert of heavy rainfall has been sounded in four districts, including Una, Bilaspur, Solan and Sirmaur. However, on July 10, only Sirmaur is under yellow alert.
{{/usCountry}}According to MeT department officials, light to moderate rainfall is very likely at many places on July 8, 9 and 10 and at a few places on July 11, 12 and 13 in the state. One or two spells of heavy rainfall are expected at isolated places till July 10.
During the last 24 hours, light to moderate rain was observed at a few places over the state. Barthin in Bilaspur recorded a rainfall of 5 cm, followed by Una (4 cm), Naina Davi (4 cm), Gohar (3 cm), Bilaspur Sadar (2 cm), Mandi (1 cm), Kandaghat (1 cm) and Tissa (1 cm).
235 roads blocked
According to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), as many as 235 roads remained blocked in Himachal on Monday. It included 176 roads in Mandi and 36 in Kullu district. 174 water supply schemes remained disrupted throughout the state with 158 in Mandi district.
Efforts underway to restore Janjehli to Thunag road: Mandi DC
Mandi deputy commissioner (DC) Apoorv Devgan on Monday reviewed the relief and rescue, electricity, water, road restoration and first aid related works being done in the disaster-affected Janjehli area with the officials of various departments.
He said that the entire focus of the state government is on providing relief to the people of Janjehli, Thunag and other affected areas so that people can be saved from inconvenience. He said that the road connecting Janjehli area towards Karsog has been restored due to which the traffic is running normally. Work is being done on a war footing to restore the road from Janjehli to Thunag. Some Bailey bridges are being installed on this road.
“Many teams are working to restore the power supply in the area. Jal Shakti Department is working on a war footing to normalise the drinking water supply in the area and so far 50 percent of the drinking water schemes have been restored in Janjehli area,” Apoorv Devgan said.
The DC said that 20 teams of the Health Department are working to provide health facilities to the people at their doorsteps. “Every possible effort is being made to find the missing people after the disaster,” he said.