Inhabitants of 11 houses were evacuated to a safer place after heavy rains triggered a landslide in a village in Kullu district on Saturday, an official said. A transit camp was set up to accommodate around 20 people following the landslide on a hill behind Duridhar village in Sainj Valley, they said. Kullu Deputy Commissioner Tarul S Raveesh said, “Our first priority was to save lives, which has been successfully done. They have been moved to a transit camp set up at the public works department’s rest house. Technical assessment of the area will be done soon.”
Recollecting the incident, Sainj Panchayat Pradhan Bhagat Ram Azaad said stones started falling on the village as a portion of the hill began sliding. Acting swiftly, the authorities evacuated all the families from the area, he said. Himachal Pradesh has been pounded by heavy rains for the past few days. A total of 222 roads, including one national highway, were closed for vehicular traffic on Friday evening owing to the rains, officials said. Around 144 roads, including the Manali-Kotali road (NH-70), were closed in Mandi district alone, where multiple cloudbursts wreaked havoc on June 30 night.
According to the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), 36 power distribution transformers and 152 water supply schemes have also been affected across the state. Since the onset of monsoon in the state on June 20 till date, as many as 82 people have died and 34 have gone missing in rain-related incidents. The state has experienced 42 flash floods, 25 cloudbursts and 30 landslides during this monsoon, resulting in losses of to the tune of Rs 1,436 crore, the SEOC stated.
Meanwhile, light to moderate rains were received at several places since Friday evening. Jaton Barrage received 33.2 mm rainfall, Palampur 33 mm, Mandi 26.4 mm, Kangra 21.1 mm, Poanta Sahib 20.8 mm, Kothi 18.6 mm, Bilapsur 15.4 mm, Guler 14.4 mm, Narkanda 13.5 mm, Kufri 13 mm, Bajura 9.5 mm, Dhaula Kuan 8.5 mm and Shimla 8.4 mm. Thunderstorms lashed Sundernagar, Shimla and Jubbarhatti. The local Met office has issued an orange alert for heavy to very heavy rains at isolated areas in four districts — Chamba, Kangra, Mandi and Kullu — on July 29 (Tuesday).
