E-Paper
Snow disrupts life in higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh
484 roads, including three national highways, closed, power supply lines damaged in Shimla, Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and Kullu districts
Heavy snow threw life out of gear in the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh, blocking 484 roads, including three national highways, besides disrupting communication and power supply on Monday.
Also read: Himachal: As snow eludes Queen of Hills, tourists head to other destinations
The upper regions of Shimla district were cut off, while the Hindustan-Tibet Road was closed beyond Charabbra due to the snowfall. The tourist destination of Kufri, 15km from Shimla, got six inches of snowfall, while Narkanda received 12 inches of snow. Shimla town got traces of snow overnight that melted in the morning. Theog, one of the main trading centres of the apple-growing region, got six inches of snowfall.
At least 190 roads were closed and more than 1,000 villages were without electricity in Shimla district since Sunday as the snowfall snapped 610 power supply lines. Of them, 348 electricity lines were damaged in Rohru sub-division alone, cutting off supply to 300 villages.
Mercury dips across state
The Buddhist learning centre of Tabo got 3 inches of snowfall, while the district headquarters of Lahaul-Spiti at Keylong received seven inches of snow. The town remained the coldest in the state with the mercury falling to minus 4.1 degrees Celsius. The key tourist destinations of Kufri, Manali, Dalhousie and Shimla shivered at minus 0.1 degree Celsius, 0.4 degree, 1 degree and 1.6 degrees, respectively.
Solang near Manali in Kullu district got 22 inches of snow, while the South Portal of Atal Tunnel at Rohtang got 30 inches of snow.
A total of 177 roads was closed in Lahaul-Spiti district and 130 electricity lines were damaged due to the snowfall. 72 roads were closed in Kinnaur and heavy snowfall damaged 272 power lines.
Rain, snow deficit reduced
Icy winds pummelled the region with the Met office issuing an ‘orange’ alert for heavy rain/snow at isolated places in the mid and high hills of Chamba, Kangra, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Lahaul & Spiti and Kinnaur. It has also predicted thunderstorms and lightning and wet weather in the lower hills till Friday.
Widespread rain lashed the mid and lower hills with Dalhousie the wettest, recording 33mm. It was followed by Rampur at 24mm, Shimla at 21mm, Dhaula Kuan at 14.5mm, Seobagh at 14.2mm, Nahan at 13.4mm, Solan at 10.8mm and Chamba at 8.6mm.
The fresh snow and rain have reduced the rainfall deficit in January to 2%. The region received an average 80.4mm rain against a normal of 82.3 mm.
