After brief lull, Himachal Pradesh braces for heavy rain
Shimla meteorological centre issues yellow alert for heavy rain, thunderstorms and lightning across the hill state from August 5 to 8
After a brief pause, the southwest monsoon picked up pace in Himachal Pradesh again with heavy to very heavy rain in the hill state. The meteorological department has predicted the heavy downpour to continue till next week.
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Shimla meteorological centre director Surender Paul said a yellow alert has been issued for heavy rain, thunderstorms and lightning till August 8. It may rain heavily on August 5 and 6, he said.
The alert has been issued for all districts of the state barring Lahaul and Spiti. The rain is expected to continue on August 7 and 8 as well, though the intensity may be weak.
Dhaulakuan in Sirmaur was the wettest place on Thursday, recording 162mm of rainfall followed by Kasauli with 110mm and Nagrota Surian with 99.1mm of rainfall.
Nahan got 94mm of rain, Kangra 64mm, Shimla 60mm, Paonta Sahib 53.8mm, Jubberhatti 43.3mm, Solan 39.6mm, Kufri 20.6mm and Narkanda 19.5mm.
Himachal Pradesh has suffered a loss of ₹602 crore due to the monsoon so far. The maximum loss of ₹323 crore has been suffered by the public works department (PWD) and ₹264 crore by the jal shakti department.
Seventy-eight houses have been fully damaged and 236 partially.
As many as 153 people have died in rain-related incidents this season. A maximum of 25 deaths occurred in Shimla district, 21 in Kullu, 18 in Mandi, 15 in Una, 13 in Kangra and 12 in Sirmaur.
According to a daily report by the state disaster management authority, 99 roads were blocked and 176 power transformers developed technical snag due to the heavy rain.
