Squall wreaks havoc in HP, yellow alert sounded for May 8
Parts of tribal Lahaul and Spiti district experienced fresh spell of snow while hailstorm lashed state capital Shimla, said Surender Paul, director of Indian Meteorological Department’s Shimla centre
While the higher reaches of Himachal Pradesh continue to experience snowfall in summer season, a violent storm late on Saturday wreaked havoc in parts of the state, including Chamba, Kangra, Mandi, Kullu and Sirmaur.
The squall uprooted trees and blew away roofs of houses and cowsheds while disrupting power supply. Meanwhile, the accompanying rains brought down the temperatures.
The roof of a two-storey house in Gahar panchayat of Chamba was blown away in the storm while its walls also developed cracks. In Bhattiyat area of Chowari subdivision, the roofs of six cowsheds were blown away. Panchayat representatives reached the spot and took stock of the damage.
In Dharamshala town, traders who had put up stalls at the Virasat Fair on the police ground suffered losses as the tents erected were blown away. The products put up for sale were also destroyed.
Dozens of sheep of a shepherd also died due to lightning strike in Shahpur area of Kangra district.
At least 120 people from tribal Pangi valley remained stranded after a landslide on the Killar-Udaipur highway. The road was reopened by the BRO on Sunday afternoon.
Lahaul and Spiti receive snow
Parts of tribal Lahaul and Spiti district experienced fresh spell of snow while hailstorm lashed state capital Shimla, said Surender Paul, director of Indian Meteorological Department’s Shimla centre.
Gondla got 5cm of snowfall and Keylong 3cm. The Manali-Leh highway (NH-003) is closed for vehicular movement beyond Darcha while Darcha-Shinkula road is closed for all types of vehicles.
Losar-Kaza road (NH-505) is closed from Graphu to Kaza.
Keylong was the coldest in the region at minus 0.7 degrees Celsius. The night temperatures dropped by up to 6 degrees and were recorded appreciably below normal.
Kukumseri was cold at 0.7 degrees C, and the famous hill station Narkanda recorded 4.6 degrees C. Kalpa was shivered at 5 degrees while tourist resort of Manali saw a low of 5.4 degrees, Dalhousie 6.3 degrees and Shimla recorded the minimum temperature of 9.9 degrees.
In the first week of May, the state has recorded above-normal rainfall. The state received 40.2mm rainfall against the normal of 15.4mm, thus a surplus of 161%.
Meanwhile, Bharmour was the wettest place in last 24 hours experiencing 30mm of rainfall followed by 19mm in Jogindernagar and 18mm in Banjar. Kothi in Kullu and Palampur got 17mm of rainfall each, Saloni and Dharamshala 13mm each, Manali and Kangra 12mm each, Chamba and Pandoh 11mm each and Dalhousie and Kasol 10mm each. Others parts of the state also got sporadic rain.
The MeT department has issued a ‘yellow alert’ warning for thunderstorm and lightning on Monday while the weather is likely to improve from Tuesday onwards.
A yellow weather warning indicates severely bad weather spanning across several days.
Another spell of rain is expected from May 12 onwards.
Avalanche warning issued for J&K’s Baramulla
Jammu and Kashmir Disaster Management Authority (JKDMA) on Sunday issued an avalanche warning for Baramulla for the next 24 hours.
“Avalanche with low danger level is likely to occur above 3,000 metres above sea level over Baramulla district in the next 24 hours,” read an official statement.
The people living in the area were advised to take precautions.
“People living in these areas are advised to take precautions and avoid venturing into the avalanche-prone areas till further orders,” it read.
Earlier on April 27, JKDMA issued an avalanche warning for the Ganderbal district was issued during the next 24 hours then.
With inputs from ANI