Himachal flash floods: Toll mounts to 15 as two more bodies recovered, 40 still missing
A team of the NDRF retrieved two more bodies on Monday from the Sunni tehsil in Shimla district as rescue and relief operations in the state entered fifth day.
The death toll due to flash floods triggered by cloudbursts in three districts of Himachal Pradesh increased to 15 on Monday while about 40 people are still missing, officials said.
A team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) retrieved two more bodies on Monday from the Sunni tehsil in Shimla district as rescue and relief operations in the state’s flood-hit areas entered the fifth day.
With two more deaths now being confirmed, the toll has now reached 15 while over 40 people are still missing after a series of cloudbursts occurred in Kullu’s Nirmand, Sainj and Malana, Mandi’s Padhar and Shimla’s Rampur subdivision on the night of July 31 and wreaked havoc. The search operations are going on at Sunni, Samej, Jhakri in Shimla and Rajban Padhar in Mandi district.
The worst hit Samej village, on the border of Shimla and Kullu district, where over 30 people are missing.
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“All the five bodies recovered from Samej are yet to be identified and we have taken DNA samples of 37 relatives of the missing persons,” said Shimla deputy commissioner Anupam Kashyap. The post-mortems are being conducted and the DNA samples will be sent to a forensic lab in Junga for identification of the deceased, he added.
Meanwhile, the search operation to find the missing people in Terang village under the Padhar subdivision of Mandi district continued for the fifth day. Mandi DC Apoorv Devgan reached Terang for the second time and led the search operation.
Out of the 10 missing people, the bodies of 8 have been recovered, officials said.
More than 100 jawans of NDRF, SDRF, police and home guard teams are engaged in searching for the missing people. Sniffer dogs have been pressed into services for the search operation.
DC Devgan said that the focus now is to trace the two missing persons and the rescue teams are also searching on the banks of the ravine. “Given the difficult geographical conditions, the search is also going on through drones. Sniffer dogs have also been pressed into services,” he added.
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Officials estimate peg the loss at ₹684 crore since the onset of monsoon on June 27 till August 5. Eighty-seven people have lost their lives in rain-related incidents, as per the state emergency operation centre.
87 roads closed
Meanwhile, flash floods and landslides triggered by days of heavy rains led to the closure of 87 roads in different parts of Himachal Pradesh, the state emergency operation centre said on Monday.
The meteorological centre here has issued a ‘yellow’ alert for heavy rain at isolated places in the state till Thursday.
Thirty roads were closed in Kullu, 25 in Mandi, 14 in Lahaul and Spiti, nine in Shimla, seven in Kangra and two in Kinnaur on Sunday evening, the state emergency response centre said.
Flash flood alert
The IMD on Monday issued a low flash flood alert for Kangra, Sirmaur, Shimla, Chamba and Mandi districts. The weather office said surface run-off or inundation may occur in some fully saturated soils and low-lying areas due to expected rainfall occurrence in the next 24 hours.
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As per IMD, Hamirpur has received the highest rainfall of 67 mm since Sunday evening, followed by 44 mm in Aghar, 42 mm in Jogindernagar, 38 mm in Nadaun, 32.3 mm in Dehra Gopipur, 28 mm in Palampur and 27.5 mm each in Dhaula Kuan and Nahan.
Meanwhile, traffic was restored on the Manali-Leh highway after it was cleared of debris near Zingzing Bar following a flash flood early on Monday, police said.
The Lahaul and Spiti district was struck by two incidents of flash floods following heavy rainfall early in the morning. The resultant landslides had blocked the road near Zingzing Bar, and traffic was being held up at the Darcha and Sarchu police posts. The Lahaul-Spiti police later in a statement said that the road had been cleared, adding, “According to information received from the police check post at Darcha, the one-way road at Zingzing Bar on National Highway-3 has been restored for traffic movement. Travellers are advised to exercise caution and follow traffic regulations.”