Two more bodies recovered from Shimla, Himachal flashfloods toll reaches 30
As heavy rains continue to lash parts of Himachal, the rescue and search teams continue to defy harsh weather to find the missing people
As rescue and relief operations in the state’s flood-hit areas entered the 13th day, two more bodies were recovered at Dogri in Himachal’s Shimla district, officials said.
While one body was recovered on Monday evening, another was retrieved on Tuesday. The death toll for the flashfloods triggered by cloudbursts on July 31 has now reached 30.
As heavy rains continue to lash parts of Himachal, the rescue and search teams continue to defy harsh weather to find the missing people. Till now, 17 bodies have been recovered from Shimla, nine from Mandi and four in Kullu district.
Shimla deputy commissioner (DC) Anupam Kashyap said, “The search operation continues to find the trace of missing people and the search teams are leaving no stone unturned in their work. Everything is being done with utmost precaution.”
As many as 25 people remain missing from Kullu’s Nirmand, Sainj and Malana, Mandi’s Padhar and Shimla’s Rampur subdivision, which were hit by a series of cloudbursts on the night of July 31. The worst hit region was around the Samej village on the border of Shimla and Kullu district where over a dozen people are still missing.
Flashflood alert in five districts
Amid the continuous rain in the state, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday issued a flashflood alert for Chamba, Kangra, Mandi, Sirmaur and Shimla districts.
The weather office has predicted showers to continue in the coming days, with officials saying that 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.
The state’s various districts continued to remain under a yellow alert of heavy rainfall on Tuesday. The weather office in Shimla has predicted heavy rains to continue in the state till August 19. IMD officials said light to moderate rain occurred at few places and heavy rain at isolated places over the state during the last 24 hours.
Part of under-construction tunnel collapses near Sanjauli
The continued rain also resulted in a section of an under construction tunnel on Tuesday collapsing in Dhali near the state capital of Shimla.
The four-lane tunnel was being built on the Kalka-Shimla highway at Chalaunthi near the Sanjauli suburb of Shimla.
According to the information, workers noticed that some stones and soil had begun to fall inside the tunnel on Monday evening. As a precaution, all workers and machinery were evacuated before the collapse.
No casualty has been reported in the incident.